New Nukes
New nuclear reactors are more expensive and create fewer jobs than renewable generation when expenses such as waste disposal, insurance risks and reactor decommissioning are included in the equation, an environmental think tank said yesterday. Earth Policy Institute founder Lester Brown told reporters that investors are backing his claim with cash. “Although industry representatives may have convinced some political leaders that [nuclear power] is a good idea, there is little evidence of private capital investing in nuclear plants in competitive electricity markets,” Brown said. “While little private capital is going into nuclear power, investors are pouring tens of billions of dollars into wind farms each year.”
World Business Council for Sustainable Development 30th Oct 2008 more >>
Earth Policy Institute 28th Oct 2008 more >>
Nuclear Waste
CUMBRIA could move a step closer to housing an underground nuclear waste dump next week. The county council is expected to express an interest in hosting a ‘deep geological repository for higher level waste’ in Copeland.
Cumberland Times and Star 30th Oct 2008 more >>
Proliferation
NOBODY feels much natural love for a shadowy group of self-appointed policemen, engaged in a tough job which some outsiders resent. Yet there is one such band of brothers that does noble work. For more than 30 years, the effort to halt the spread of nuclear weapons has relied, at a practical level, on a small, publicity-shy bunch of officials from a club called the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Behind closed doors, this 45-nation fraternity stitches up rules whose aim is to control trade in nuclear materials, equipment and technology. They don’t always succeed. North Korea, Iran, (a subsequently reformed) Libya and others tapped into a nuclear black market that was run for years from Pakistan. But now the fraternity itself is under strain, with perilous consequences for world peace.
Economist 30th Oct 2008 more >>
Nuclear Subs
The harsh reality of life on a nuclear submarine: if something goes wrong, help is a long way off.
Times 30th Oct 2008 more >>
Protest
A Stafford anti-nuclear campaigner arrested following a protest outside Derby’s Rolls-Royce factory has been found not guilty of aggravated trespass.
ICStafford 30th Oct 2008 more >>
Renewables
The prospect of households with wind turbines and solar panels being able to sell power back to the national grid has come a step closer after the government tabled an amendment to a bill that would allow people to generate enough power to serve a community of more than 1,000 people.
Guardian 31st Oct 2008 more >>
