New Nukes
Stephen Tindale: Everyone should support the building of new nuclear power stations, to help tackle climate change. We must stop arguing about whether energy efficiency, renewables, carbon capture and storage or nuclear are ‘better’ to cut carbon emissions. We need all of them.
Nuclear Engineering International 29th May 2009 more >>
Phil Radford talks to Bibi van der Zee about becoming the new executive director of Greenpeace USA. He says nuclear reactors are sitting ducks for terrorists.
Guardian 29th May 2009 more >>
Nuclear contracts – what form will they take?
Contract Journal 29th May 2009 more >>
Copeland MP Jamie Reed has invited Tory leader David Cameron to West Cumbria to debate his policies – starting with the nuclear issue. Mr Cameron, who is visiting Cumbria today, has repeatedly refused to back more new nuclear build and in interviews with the News & Star said the energy source was a “last resort.”
Carlisle News and Star 29th May 2009 more >>
Europe
Today, environmental organisations Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Sortir du nucl aire formally ended their participation in the European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) at a meeting in Prague hosted by the Czech and Slovak governments and backed by the European Commission. The environmental groups accuse the nuclear industry-dominated body of stifling critical voices and ignoring the concerns of civil society.
FoE Press Release 29th May 2009 more >>
Wylfa
Fires within the confines of a nuclear power plant should not be described as `minor’ the Celtic League have told the United Kingdom Nuclear Safety Directorate. The League were querying the circumstances surrounding a fire a week ago at the Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey during which a nuclear reactor was shut down.
Agence Bretagne 29th May 2009 more >>
Bradwell
Anti-nuclear campaigners have expressed alarm at the possibility of three new stations at Bradwell. The Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) spoke out after Spanish energy company Iberdrola announced that a site had been proposed to them for the development of new nuclear reactors.
Essex County Standard 29th May 2009 more >>
Hinkley
COFFERS at West Somerset Council are set to take a £15,000 hit just because the council has to process a £6.5m business rates refund to Hinkley Point B. The power station is owed the money because it has been generating less electricity than expected and is entitled to a refund of £6,564,000, dating back to September 2006.
This is the West Country 29th May 2009 more >>
SEDGEMOOR District Council has defended its decision to donate a chunk of public land by Bridgwater College for a new nuclear training centre. During a private part of a council meeting this month, councillors agreed to give the college the land so it can press ahead with its new energy skills centre. Anti-nuclear group Stop Hinkley claimed the land was worth around £100,000 and hit out at the decision to pass it on. Stop Hinkley spokesman Jim Duffy said: “This land is owned by council taxpayers who should be consulted if the council wants to give it away for nothing.
This is the West Country 29th May 2009 more >>
Radhealth
Fifty years ago, on 28 May 1959, the World Health Organisation’s assembly voted into force an obscure but important agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency – the United Nations “Atoms for Peace” organisation, founded just two years before in 1957. The effect of this agreement has been to give the IAEA an effective veto on any actions by the WHO that relate in any way to nuclear power – and so prevent the WHO from playing its proper role in investigating and warning of the dangers of nuclear radiation on human health.
Guardian 28th May 2009 more >>
National Nuclear Laboratory
A former Rolls-Royce director has been appointed as chairman for the National Nuclear Laboratory. Richard Maudslay began the three-year role on 18 May, taking over from acting chairman Richard Ramsay. The National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) has been owned by the UK government since April 2009, following the winding down of British Nuclear Fuels.
New Energy Focus 29th May 2009 more >>
US
Is the nuclear renaissance fizzling? Nuclear power may be making a comeback, but long-standing problems with the technology still could lead to canceled orders and renewed public opposition. One problem is what to do with the highly dangerous waste produced by reactors. Currently waste is stored above ground in pools of water or in vast dry casks, but neither of those methods is regarded as adequate over the long term.
New York Times 29th May 2009 more >>
North Korea
Letter from David Lowry: North Korea’s actions are certainly against the progressive security norms being promoted by the President, but such a test, although abhorrent, is not illegal, nor did North Korea illegally leave the NPT, as under treaty Article X this is permitted.
Times 29th May 2009 more >>
The United States will not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea, the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said. In a speech to an Asian defence conference in Singapore, Mr Gates also said the threat from North Korea, which this week detonated a nuclear device and launched a series of missiles, could trigger an arms race in Asia.
ITN 30th May 2009 more >>
Interactive Investor 30th May 2009 more >>
BBC 30th May 2009 more >>
Listeners to a national radio station were shocked to learn that the normally peaceful county of North Yorkshire had launched a programme of illegal underground nuclear tests. A newsreader made the comical error at the start of a news bulletin on Radio Five Live.
Yorkshire Post 29th May 2009 more >>
North Korea test-fired another missile yesterday and warned it would act in ‘self-defence’ if provoked by the UN Security Council. The UN is considering tough sanctions over the communist country’s nuclear test on Monday. But the North Korean government warned: ‘Any hostile act against our peaceful vessels, including search and seizure, will be considered an unpardonable infringement on our sovereignty.
Daily Mail 30th May 2009 more >>
China provides as much as 90% of the North’s energy and 40% of its food. Like Russia, it has used its security council veto against attempts to isolate Pyongyang. Without its support, its poor neighbour would struggle to survive. But now it appears that the North may be exhausting Beijing’s patience. This week’s nuclear and missile tests, last month’s rocket launch, increasing threats and the suspected restarting of the Yongbyon nuclear plant have reignited debate about how best to deal with a troublesome neighbour.
Guardian 30th May 2009 more >>
Czech Republic & Slovakia
Slovakia and the Czech Republic signed agreements on Friday to build a nuclear reactor in Slovakia at an estimated cost of 4-6 billion euros ($5.6-$8.4 billion) to increase the country’s energy independence.
Yahoo 29th May 2009 more >>
Belarus
Belarus has asked Russia for $9 billion loan for the construction of a nuclear power plant, Russian finance minister, Alexei Leonidovich Kudrin said. Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation said that Belarus and Russia would sign an agreement to construct the nuclear plant in the third quarter of 2009. Kudrin reported that Belarus had turned down a new loan tranche from Russia worth $500 million, insisting that it be denominated in dollars rather than Russian rubles.
Energy Business Review 28th May 2009 more >>
India
Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC (Westinghouse) will start discussions with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) with an objective to reach agreement on the deployment of Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plants in India.
Energy Business Review 28th May 2009 more >>
China
AREVA S.A. (AREVA) is expected to commence work on Taishan nuclear power plant in August 2009. The plant which is located in the southern province of Guangdong, China, is being built with third generation technology. The first reactor is planned to be completed by 2013 and the second is expected to be finished in mid-2014.
Energy Business Review 28th May 2009 more >>
Coal
SCOTLAND is leading the way towards a new energy era in which power stations are fitted with groundbreaking technology to capture greenhouse gas emissions, it was claimed yesterday. The switch-on of a 1 million prototype to capture carbon dioxide emissions from Longannet Power Station in Fife was compared yesterday with the hunt for oil in the North Sea. The 1MW prototype unit switched on yesterday at Longannet, Europe’s third-largest coal-fired power station, is a small-scale replica of a full-sized carbon capture plant. However, it only captures before releasing it again rather than storing it and is tiny compared with the technology needed for the full 2,300MW plant. ScottishPower hopes the test unit will help experts move towards building a 330MW demonstration plant at Longannet, which would incorporate capture of , transportation to the North Sea and storage in disused gas plants or “saline aquifers” gaps in the rocks in the seabed.
Scotsman 30th May 2009 more >>
