Terror
FEARS of a terrorist strike on a nuclear power plant in Pakistan were raised yesterday when police revealed they were detaining five Americans. The young Muslim men, who are from the Washington DC area, were arrested in Pakistan earlier this month in a case that has spurred fears that westerners may be travelling to Pakistan to join militant groups.
Scotland on Sunday 27th Dec 2009 more >>
EDF
Sources have revealed that the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is working with the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) to submit a joint offer for EDF’s electricity distribution network.
Sunday Telegraph 27th Dec 2009 more >>
Centrica
The acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in British Energy, the nuclear power generator, takes a company that was entrenched in fossil fuels into a fast-growing and exciting sector that is at the very heart of plans to provide the UK with cleaner energy in future. That process was also under way with a number of investments in renewables that continued, at the end of October, with an announcement that the company was investing £725 million some of which will come from government subsidies in building an offshore wind farm off the East Coast of England. But the nuclear investment is far bigger and places Centrica and British Energy’s majority shareholder EDF, of France as the leading players in the push to “decarbonise” the UK’s power generation by 2030.
Times 26th Dec 2009 more >>
Dounreay
AN ARCHITECTURE firm in Edinburgh has won a contract to design the new national nuclear archive in the north of Scotland. Reiach and Hall will start work on the £15 million Wick facility in January, with work due to be completed in 2013.
Edinburgh Evening News 26th Dec 2009 more >>
Iran
These are worrying times for Iran. In addition to the internal strife which shows no sign of abating, the question of its nuclear capability remains unanswered. It has until the end of the year to agree to a UN plan to exchange enriched uranium for supplies of nuclear fuel but so far Ahmadinejad has shown no sign of agreeing to the offer. Last week the release of intelligence documents seemed to show Iran was embarking on the production of a nuclear trigger and that it could have a weapon ready by 2011. Although Mr Ahmadinejad claimed the report was “fundamentally untrue” and US concerns had become “a repetitive and tasteless joke”, senior Pentagon commanders have admitted a pre-emptive strike remains an option if diplomacy fails.
Sunday Herald 27th Dec 2009 more >>
UAE
A South Korean consortium has won a $40-billion (25 billion pound) contract to build several nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates, industry sources said on Sunday.
Reuters 27th Dec 2009 more >>