Sellafield
Taxpayers will be expected to pay the full costs of closing down and decommissioning a nuclear fuel plant at Sellafield which was built to provide plutonium-uranium mixed oxides (Mox) fuel to foreign power companies. A senior Sellafield executive has reassured Japanese customers that they will not have to pay the expected £100m costs of decommissioning the Sellafield Mox Plant, in Cumbria, which was closed in August because of Japan’s “anticipated” cancellation of orders as a consequence of the Fukushima incident. Next week, the Government is expected to announce its response to a public consultation on what to do with the UK’s huge 112 tonne stockpile of plutonium waste stored at Sellafield. It has said that its “preferred option” is to build another Mox plant at Sellafield, this time dedicated to dealing with British-owned plutonium.
Independent 31st Oct 2011 more >>
Radwaste
With nice timing for the scary Halloween season the Managing Radioactive Wastes Safely Partnership have produced a draft consultation document which will be used to continue promoting the steps towards geological disposal of high level nuclear wastes in Cumbrias leaky geology.
101 uses for nuclear power 30th Oct 2011 more >>
Energy Security
Two new power stations in Yorkshire, creating more than 1,000 jobs and enough energy to power more than two million homes, will be approved. Charles Hendry, the energy minister, said this was a further example of our determination to clear the backlog of planning applications, to stimulate growth and enhance our energy security.
Telegraph 30th Oct 2011 more >>
Energy Prices
SSE, the owner of Southern Electric, is writing to the Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne, to say it will get rid of loss-leading discounts for online customers in order to give everyone a fairer deal.
Telegraph 31st Oct 2011 more >>
Japan
Nearly eight months after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, Japan is resuming steps it hopes will lead to exports of commercial nuclear technology to India and Vietnam, even as Japan itself is scaling back the use of nuclear energy at home.
Wall Street Journal 31st Oct 2011 more >>
Two men were injured on Saturday at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, while assembling a crawler crane. The men were installing the cranes back mast using another crawler crane, The support crane was lifting the back mast vertically in order to place it into its pivot points on the superstructure when the slings appear to have slipped or given way, dropping the mast onto the two men.
Vertikal 31st Oct 2011 more >>
The nuclear industry is constantly reassuring the public that its reactors are safe. But, as the nuclear disaster in Japan continues to unfold, the evidence mounts that these assurances frequently cant be trusted at all and that in Japan in particular, the nuclear industry and the government have failed in their duty to protect the Japanese people. Media reports on this week’s publication of Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) manuals said the documents show that the utility’s lack of preparedness for an emergency was a major factor leading to the meltdowns after the March 11 quake-tsunami, so its no wonder the company had previously refused to make the full documents public. It was Japans Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency that demanded disclosure.
Greenpeace International 28th Oct 2011 more >>
Germany
German artist Anselm Kiefer wants to buy a shut-down nuclear power plant, he told a German magazine, just as Europe’s biggest economy phases out atomic power due to safety concerns following the Fukushima disaster in Japan earlier this year.
Reuters 30th Oct 2011 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
The world’s nuclear powers are planning to spend hundreds of billions of pounds modernising and upgrading weapons warheads and delivery systems over the next decade, according to an authoritative report published on Monday. Despite government budget pressures and international rhetoric about disarmament, evidence points to a new and dangerous “era of nuclear weapons”, the report for the British American Security Information Council (Basic) warns. It says the US will spend $700bn (£434bn) on the nuclear weapons industry over the next decade, while Russia will spend at least $70bn on delivery systems alone. Other countries including China, India, Israel, France and Pakistan are expected to devote formidable sums on tactical and strategic missile systems.
Guardian 30th Oct 2011 more >>
