Dounreay
LABOUR’S Holyrood hopeful John McKendrick has announced a plan he says he would implement within 100 days if elected to the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross seat on May 3. It outlines the immediate action he would take to counter what he considers the gravest threat to Scottish jobs since Ravenscraig – the decommissioning of Dounreay.
John O Groat Journal 27th April 2007
France
SAFETY at the nuclear power plant at Flamanville has been reaffirmed by a leading figure from operator Electricite de France.
Guernsey Press and Star 28th April 2007
North Korea
President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe demanded on Friday that North Korea live up to its promises and abandon its nuclear weapons program. The two leaders threatened more sanctions against Pyongyang.
Guardian website 27th April 2007
Australia
THE Prime Minister will propel Australia along the path to nuclear power today by unveiling measures enabling the domestic enrichment of uranium and the establishment of nuclear power stations. In a speech to the Victorian Liberal Party state council meeting, John Howard will argue nuclear power is essential if climate change is to be reversed, and he will implement the first steps needed to establish the energy source, including drafting a regulatory regime and a public relations campaign.
Sydney Morning Herald 28th April 2007
Australia is set to take an important step on Saturday towards boosting its production and export of uranium, with the opposition Labor party expected to abandon its long-standing policy of restricting the mining of the ore. Kevin Rudd, the Labor leader, intends to push through a proposal at the party’s annual conference to drop the “three mines” policy that Labor introduced in 1984. That policy has restricted uranium production to three specific site. The move is significant because, although the Liberal party leads the federal government, mining permits are handled by state governments, all of which are under Labor control.
FT 28th April 2007
Fusion
SCIENTISTS from Edinburgh are working on a project aimed at developing waste-free nuclear power that does not contribute to global warming. Researchers from Heriot-Watt University are among those looking at using carbon composite tiles, similar to those used on the space shuttle, to cover a nuclear fusion reactor and cover that with a lining made of diamond.
Edinburgh Evening News 27th April 2007
Trident
Protesters take action at Derby nuclear plant on the 21st anniversary of Chernobyl, in solidarity with Faslane365 Environmentalist blockade. Twenty-one years ago today, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster caused large areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia to be badly contaminated with radioactive material, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people. To mark the anniversary of this environmental and a humanitarian catastrophe, protesters today disrupted work at Rolls Royce Raynesway near Derby, which makes and tests the enriched uranium fuel rods that power Britain’s Trident nuclear submarines. The protest was timed to coincide with a blockade being carried out by a group of environmentalists at Faslane in Scotland, where the Trident submarines are based.
Indy Media 27th April 2007
Terror
New nuclear reactors need not be designed to withstand suicide attacks by big airplanes, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decided Tuesday. Instead, the commission proposed that designers be required to analyze how their reactors can be built to mitigate the effects of such an attack, “to the extent practicable.” The commission’s staff characterized the vote, which was 4 to 1, as an additional step to improve plant security in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who is a frequent critic of the way nuclear power is regulated, said the commission had abdicated its responsibility by turning its back on “a common-sense regulatory measure.”
New York Times 25th April 2007
British Energy
British Energy, the UK’s largest power generator, will probably not be able to start four of its nuclear reactors by the end of this month as planned because it still hasn’t received regulatory approval.
Telegraph 28th April 2007
Body Parts
Dounreay has become the latest nuclear site involved in the scandal over the storage of body parts. It emerged that workers from the Scottish reactor who died had organs taken and tested at Sellafield and Harwell. With the involvement of Dounreay, six nuclear plants are linked to the controversy.
Times 28th April 2007
Herald 27th April 2007
