BNFL Privatisation
Britain’s ageing Magnox nuclear reactors are likely to be sold off to private buyers within the next six months under recommendations put to ministers by their owner, British Nuclear Fuels. The BNFL board is understood to have recommended that the disposal of its 11 Magnox stations, only four of which are still in service and producing electricity, should be fast-tracked alongside the sale of its engineering consultancy division and its stake in the consortium which runs the Atomic Weapons Establishment’s Aldermaston site. BNFL is also thought to have agreed to a plan devised by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to keep the operation of the Sellafield waste reprocessing site in Cumbria in public ownership, but bring forward the date at which private-sector firms can compete for the work to 2008.
Independent 3rd Oct 2006
New nukes
Researchers at MIT have developed technology they say will boost the power output of nuclear power plants by 50 per cent, and make them safer to run. By modifying the shape of the uranium pellets used to fuel the plants, the researchers say they can lower the operating temperature of the plant, and increase heat transfer.
The Register 2nd October 2006
Protest
Eight anti-nuclear campaigners locked-on to the gate of the amunitions area in USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
Indymedia 2nd Oct 2006
Veterans from the women’s peace camp at Greenham Common will mark the 25th anniversary of their campaign to ban nuclear weapons by kicking off a year-long protest at the Trident base at Faslane today.
Sunday Herald 1st Oct 2006
Decommissioning
A new UK-funded nuclear waste storage facility has opened in Russia, representing the largest completed project under the UK’s Global Partnership programme. The £21m facility at Atomflot in Murmansk, is the first to comply with Russian and International Atomic Energy authority standards, and has been designed to withstand earthquakes and terrorist attacks. As part of the security measures at the site a £2m defence system is integrated.
Green Consumer Guide 3rd Oct 2006
Emergency Planning
Emergency services are taking part in the largest nuclear alert exercise seen in Cumbria for 15 years. The aim is to test emergency procedures around Sellafield, near Whitehaven, in the event of an incident at the reprocessing plant.
BBC 3rd Oct 2006
Nuclear Waste
Thirteen Midland locations are back on the table to become dumping grounds for nuclear waste. The sites, 12 of them in Warwickshire and one in Solihull, were first identified for underground burial of radioactive material in 1990 but ruled out due to public outcry at the time. However, earlier this year the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoWRM) recommended underground disposal as the best way forward for the disposal of nuclear waste, following a three-year study. The Government is widely expected to endorse the CoWRM’s findings this month which, according to campaigners, puts the 13 locations back in the front line.
Birmingham Post 3rd Oct 2006
Iran
The head of Russia’s security council will visit Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, Russian news agencies reported.
Interactive Investor 2nd Oct 2006
Iran has said nothing so far to suggest it plans to suspend uranium enrichment, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday. Speaking to reporters as she flew to the Middle East, Rice said the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany might meet later this week to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme.
Reuters 2nd Oct 2006
Pakistan
The daughter of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan has criticised claims made by President Pervez Musharraf in his autobiography. In her first statement since her father’s arrest in 2004, Dina Khan said she wanted to set the record straight. She said suggestions that her father asked her to go public on Pakistan’s nuclear secrets were “ludicrous”.
BBC 2nd Oct 2006
