New nukes
As we stand at the threshold of the New Year and wonder what it will bring, there cannot be many safer predictions than that 2008 will see the rebirth of nuclear power. Hint after hint has been dropped by ministers that an announcement is imminent about new nuclear plants at existing sites, with Sizewell in Suffolk, Dungeness in Kent, Hinkley Point in Somerset and Bradwell in Essex firm favourites.
Telegraph 28th December 2007 more >>
British Energy
Corporate activity was thin on the ground as the market closed down on its last full session of the year. Yet one beleaguered energy stock rallied after a torrid few months as it received broker backing. British Energy Group has endured a volatile year, but rallied 1.32 per cent to 535.5p yesterday after Goldman Sachs reiterated its “conviction buy” status, based on recent higher oil prices. The company came off the rails in November after two reactors went down, and still hasn’t provided a timetable for their return to operation.
Independent 29th Dec 2007 more >>
Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto’s assassination not only threatens to exacerbate the volatile situation in Pakistan but also raises questions about the security of its nuclear arsenal. Pakistan is the only Islamic state with nuclear weapons. Its atomic arsenal, comprising 60-65 warheads according to experts, is controlled almost exclusively by an increasingly “Islamised” military.
Telegraph 29th December 2007 more >>
Security experts fear Pakistan’s nuclear materials could fall into the hands of Islamic militants as the country’s instability deepens in the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
Reuters 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Pakistan’s nuclear weapons arsenal is secure despite political turmoil after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, the Pentagon said on Friday.
Reuters 28th Dec 2007 more >>
The Pentagon is working on a series of contingency plans to prevent Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of Islamist radicals and insisted today that the arsenal was safe in spite of the upheaval in the aftermath of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
Guardian website 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Factbox on Pakistan’s Nuclear arsenal.
Reuters 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Nuclear Testing
The bizarre story of how a reporter’s dream reputedly led to the uncovering of a secret British nuclear test is contained in the records. Wilson, only told three Cabinet colleagues about a test to upgrade Polaris at a US underground facility in the Nevada desert. Eventually, Mr Wilson was forced to admit to the test in Parliament after a Daily Express reporter, Chapman Pincher, claimed to have imagined a British nuclear blast in a dream.
Telegraph 29th Dec 2007 more >>
Finland
The start-up of Finland’s fifth nuclear power reactor, seen as a test case for Europe’s nuclear future, has been pushed back and its operator said on Friday it now sees a commercial start in mid-2011. Start-up had originally been scheduled for 2009.
Reuters 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Iran
Russia has delivered a second consignment of nuclear fuel to Iran’s Bushehr power plant, the official news agency IRNA quoted the deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation as saying on Friday.
Middle East Online 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Reuters 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Scotland
The UK Government has been accused of failing to keep up-to-date safety records on nuclear power station closures. In the wake of recent temporary closures at Hunterston and Torness, Nationalists are calling for official records to be kept on all planned and unplanned shut downs.
ICScotland 28th Dec 2007 more >>
Renewables
The holy grail of renewable energy came a step closer yesterday as thousands of mass-produced wafer-thin solar cells printed on aluminium film rolled off a production line in California, heralding what British scientists called “a revolution” in generating electricity. The solar panels produced by a Silicon Valley start-up company, Nanosolar, are radically different from the kind that European consumers are increasingly buying to generate power from their own roofs. Printed like a newspaper directly on to aluminium foil, they are flexible, light and, if you believe the company, expected to make it as cheap to produce electricity from sunlight as from coal.
Guardian 29th Dec 2007 more >>
