Sellafield
The NDA is asking the four preferred bidders to submit their final bids for running Sellafield.
Whitehaven News 27th Dec 2007 more >>
Italy
Europe needs to increase substantially its nuclear power capacity to relieve its overdependence on gas, the chief executive of Edison has warned. Umberto Quadrino, head of Italy’s second-largest utility, said there was serious trouble looming in European power supply.
FT 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Iran
Britain entered into secret negotiations in 1977 to build 20 nuclear reactors for the Shah of Iran, a programme that would have dwarfed similar projects offered at the time by France and Germany. In negotiations with the head of the Iranian atomic energy programme, senior UK civil servants predicted that by the end of the 20th century Iran would have obtained the technology – from Britain itself – to build nuclear weapons.
FT 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Tony Benn, secretary of state for energy, encouraged Britain’s nuclear industry to export reactors to Middle Eastern countries. In a letter to the prime minister in early 1977 he explained: “Both Kuwait and Iran have expressed definite interest in buying from the UK and [I] have encouraged NPC (the Nuclear Power Company) to compete.
Guardian 28th Dec 2007 more >>
The spectre of war has lifted from the Korean peninsula as Pyongyang has embarked on nuclear disarmament and a rapprochement with the international community has begun. Advocates of nuclear non-proliferation have hailed the progress made on the North Korean nuclear crisis, and are asking whether the model used to resolve it might also be applicable to the Iranian dispute.
Middle East Online 27th Dec 2007 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
Underground testing of British nuclear warheads was kept secret from most cabinet ministers after the US administration was persuaded not to publicise the event, government files reveal. The Labour government’s internal debate on updating the United Kingdom’s arsenal of Polaris missiles during the mid-1970s involved only the prime minister and three other senior ministers, according to archive documents released today.
Guardian 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Energy
Letter from Kerr MacGregor: In the ongoing debate about nuclear or wind for Scotland’s energy future, there still seems to be confusion between energy and electricity. Electricity is not a source of energy. It is simply a convenient form of energy. Less than 20% of the energy we use is in the form of electricity. Therefore, the biggest challenge we face is to find replacements for the 80% of energy we use for heating and transport. As yet, the Scottish and UK governments have no targets or strategy for renewable heat and fuel.
Herald 27th Dec 2007 more >>
Sam Laidlaw, Chief Executive of Centrica:- Our planet is gradually but inexorably growing warmer under the blanket of carbon dioxide being pumped out by global industrialisation and modernisation. It is, therefore, even more vital that clear opportunities to try to halt this trend are seized before the consequences become irreversible. Time is short and the decisions that must be made by policymakers at both national and international level are becoming increasingly critical. The key to making companies and individuals reduce their output of highly damaging CO2 is to put a price on those emissions – and it needs to be a high enough one to change both consumer behaviour and future investment decisions. The polluter must be forced to pay.
Times 27th Dec 2007 more >>
Renewables
EVERY secondary school in Scotland should be given government funding to install a renewable power source, say teachers. The Scottish Secondary
Teachers’ Association says the move would allow schools to serve as examples to local communities.
Scotsman 27th Dec 2007 more >>
