Radwaste
A decision on whether west Cumbria should remain part of the search for a suitable place for an underground radioactive waste disposal facility will be made next year. Public consultation meetings are due to be held in January and February. The West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership, made up of representatives of all the local authorities in the county, has spent more than two years finding out more about what taking part in the search for a site would mean for the area and has published a consultation document. County councillor Tim Knowles, responsible for environmental policy, will take on the role of chairman of the partnership over the next six months. He said: There are a lot of questions that cannot be answered at this point because no site has been selected. The question we all need to consider is, based on what we know now, should we take part in the search for a possible site?
Carlisle News & Star 30th Dec 2011 more >>
New Nukes
On 3rd December 2011 Rising Tide joined Kick Nuclear to support this years Climate Justice march in support of the tens of thousands mobilising in South Africa to demand climate justice at UNs COP17 in Durban. Together with Kick Nuclear, Rising Tide marched and distributed leaflets to remind people that the British Governments repackaging of nuclear power as a ‘green’ source of energy is a false and dangerous solution to climate change. The UK government is is planning to build new nuclear power stations at eight sites all of which are existing nuclear sites. Hinkley Point is the first of these proposed sites for nuclear new build to go ahead. Activist action was key in stopping them here before in 1987, and we can do it again in 2012. If they fail at Hinkley, it is unlikely the nuclear renaissance will have the momentum to continue.
Rising Tide 30th Dec 2011 more >>
Japan
Fukushima Crisis Update 27th to 29th Dec 2011.
Greenpeace International 30th Dec 2011 more >>
The Japanese government’s response as the Fukushima nuclear accident developed saw flawed organisation and communication, while the site was inadequately prepared and operators made mistakes. The conclusions come from an interim report from the investigation committee on the crises at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daiini nuclear power plants after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. A provisional English translation of the executive summary explained how government agencies were meant to have interacted and cases in which this broke down. It also explained some operational mistakes made by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) during the accident sequence.
World Nuclear News 30th Dec 2011 more >>
Spain
Residents of a small Spanish village celebrated news Friday that their district will host a nuclear waste depot, a source of jobs in tough economic times. Villagers were shown on national television erupting in joy in the only bar of Villar de Canas, near Cuenca in central Spain, as the new conservative government announced the decision.
Nuclear Power Daily 30th Dec 2011 more >>
Iran
An Israeli strike on Iran has to be the most over-predicted event of recent years. It was meant to happen last year. And the year before that. But now there are reasons why 2012 could, indeed, be the year when Israel will find it propitious to take overt military action against Iran’s nuclear programme. (Everyone assumes that a range of covert activities, from assassinations to cyber attacks, are already ongoing).
Spectator 30th Dec 2011 more >>
Submarines
Firefighters have extinguished a massive fire aboard a docked Russian nuclear submarine as some crew members remain inside, officials say. There was no radiation leak and the vessels nuclear-tipped missiles were not on board, they said.
Irish Times 31st Dec 2011 more >>
The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, has ordered an investigation after a nuclear submarine caught fire during repairs in the Arctic, injuring at least nine people. The blaze, believed to have been started by a welding lamp igniting rubbish and wooden scaffolding next to the craft, raged for nine hours at a shipyard in the Murmansk region. Up to 30 crew members remained inside the submarine, although it was unclear if they were trapped.
Guardian 30th Dec 2011 more >>
Russian firefighters have put out the huge fire that engulfed a nuclear submarine as it emerged that several crew members remained inside throughout the crisis.
Telegraph 30th Dec 2011 more >>
Independent 30th Dec 2011 more >>
Huffington Post 30th Dec 2011 more >>
Daily Mail 30th Dec 2011 more >>
Disarmament
Scottish independence could mean unilateral nuclear disarmament for the rest of the UK, a former head of the Royal Navy has warned. In a BBC radio interview yesterday, Admiral Lord West of Spithead, the former First Sea Lord, said that Scotland leaving the UK would also have devastating implications for Scotlands defence industry. Lord West, a former Security Minister in the previous Labour government and a former adviser to Gordon Brown, said that Alex Salmond had failed to address the future of defence should he win an independence referendum. The SNPs official policy is to remove the Trident nuclear submarine system, which is based at Faslane on the Clyde and Coulport in Argyll and employs several thousand Scots.
Times 31st Dec 2011 more >>
Renewables
The UK Government appears to have reinstated the April 1 deadline for a cut in the solar PV Feed-in Tariff rate in a new renewable energy report submitted to the European Commission this week. The Government’s apparent u-turn was buried deep within the First Progress Report on the Promotion and Use of Energy from Renewable Sources for the United Kingdom, which was published yesterday.
Click Green 30th Dec 2011 more >>
UK investment in green energy failed to pick up significantly in 2011, reflecting difficult economic circumstances and uncertainty over government policy. The government’s figure of £2.5bn is slightly higher than an estimate for the previous year and well down on total investment in the sector in 2009.
Guardian 30th Dec 2011 more >>
