Energy Prices
The Coalition’s plans to convert Britain to green energy would cost the country the equivalent of £4,600 per person a year, according to official forecasts. Reducing dependence on fossil fuels and moving to renewable and nuclear energy would cost an additional £60billion every year until 2050, the officials said. But Professor David MacKay, a government adviser on climate change, said that doing nothing to reduce carbon emissions would prove even more expensive because of rising energy prices. The cheapest option for switching to green energy would increase the estimated cost of energy to £4,598 per person per year. Under this plan, just over 40 per cent of energy would come from wind, solar and renewable power, a third would come from nuclear plants and a quarter from gas stations. The estimates suggest that failing to replace fossil fuel plants with greener energy would be even more costly. Continuing to rely on coal and gas would cost about £4,682 a year per person, according to the forecasts. The most expensive scenario, working out at £5,181 per person a year, would rely on a far higher use of nuclear power than any of the other options.
Telegraph 29th Dec 2011 more >>
Guardian 28th Dec 2011 more >>
Sellafield
A COUNCIL has pledged to battle for business rates generated by the nuclear industry to be handed back to the community. Copeland Borough Councils executive committee has pledged to fight government proposals which could see business rates from nuclear sites distributed across the UK. Copeland hosts the low level nuclear waste repository at Drigg and Sellafield, which generate a high level of income. Under government proposals business rates generated by renewable energy sites will be handed back to the local authority in their entirety but rates from nuclear sites will not.
North West Evening Mail 28th Dec 2011 more >>
Radwaste
South Lakeland artivist Marianne Birkby founder of the pressure group Radiation Free Lakeland, has produced and published a Raymond Briggs-style picture book in her efforts to continue the campaign against plans to create the worlds first high level nuclear waste dump in West Cumbria.
New Writing 28th Dec 2011 more >>
Japan
Months after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, these images capture the eerie stillness of towns that lie broken and abandoned in the wake of the devastating natural disaster which left 20,000 dead or missing. Photographer David Guttenfelder visited the exclusion zone in July – including the radiation-contaminated town of Okuma, a mile and a half from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant which went into meltdown following the catastrophe. It is unlikely residents will ever return.
Daily Mail 28th Dec 2011 more >>
Shares in Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the owner of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan, plunged 12pc in Asian trade on nationalisation fears.
Telegraph 28th Dec 2011 more >>
Times 29th Dec 2011 more >>
North Korea
North Korea lauded the military might built up by deceased leader Kim Jong-il Thursday, likely tying his young successor to the same policies that have set Northeast Asia on edge as the impoverished state inches closer to nuclear weapons capability.
Reuters 29th Dec 2011 more >>
North Korea likely is closer to mounting nuclear warheads on its ballistic missiles than generally reported, possibly only one or two years away, the U.S. Congress’s former top expert on the issue has concluded.
Reuters 28th Dec 2011 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
Letter: There is one aspect of the Falklands debacle Harry Reid does not consider. On January 6, 2003, the Ministry of Defence admitted for the first time that British ships carried nuclear weapons in the Falklands war. For decades, the MoD has refused to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons at any particular time or place. In November 1993, Malcolm Rifkind stated the Trident could fire a single missile “in order to convey an unmistakable message of Britain’s willingness to defend her vital interests”. In other words, we are prepared to actually use Trident, to use it first, and against a non-nuclear power. British victory in the Falklands conflict was by no means guaranteed and some people at the time were openly advocating hat we incinerate the capital city of Argentine, in line with the infamous “Rifkind Doctrine”. The situation has not changed, and the Rifkind doctrine still holds, as long as we deploy Trident.
Herald 29th Dec 2011 more >>
Pakistan and India have made tentative steps towards a fresh treaty designed to stop an accident triggering nuclear war between the two atomic rivals.
Telegraph 28th Dec 2011 more >>
IB Times 28th Dec 2011 more >>
Renewables
New exchange launches in Netherlands amid growing row about wisdom of burning more wood to generate electricity.
Guardian 28th Dec 2011 more >>
TWO wind farms that could power more than 90,000 homes have been given the go-ahead by the Scottish Government. Energy minister Fergus Ewing announced approval had been granted for the 59-turbine Dorenell wind farm on the Glenfiddich estate, near Dufftown in Moray. The 177 megawatt (MW) project could provide enough power for 84,000 houses – double the number of homes in Moray. The six-turbine, 21 MW extension to the 104 MW Muaitheabhal wind farm on the Eisgein estate in Lewis will add capacity to power an additional 9,000 homes. Consent for the Muaitheabhal wind farm was granted in January 2010 but has yet to be built.
Scotsman 29th Dec 2011 more >>
