New Nukes
Energy giant EDF has embarked on a major recruitment and training drive to prepare for the forthcoming nuclear power station building revolution. Over the next five years it plans to take on 10,000 scientists, engineers and technicians as it builds two reactors at Hinkley Point, Somerset, and two more at Sizewell, Suffolk. EDF, formerly Electricite de France, hopes that by 2017-18 Hinkley will be producing power, followed two years later by Sizewell.
Daily Mail 4th April 2010 more >>
NDA
The Government’s £73bn nuclear decommissioning programme is to be accelerated with a radical repackaging of its private sector contracts. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) had planned up to five nuclear plant clean-up contracts, which would be let sequentially and take about two years each to select a preferred bidder. This has now been cut by two, with the later three projects combined into a single £13bn-plus outsourcing contract. The large value of this contract will also ensure greater private sector interest. The NDA has joined up the Magnox sites and has added Harwell and Winfrith. Potential bidders will be invited to pitch in 2012. This means there are now only three contracts for the so-called Parent Body Organisation (PBO) roles; the others cover Sellafield in Cumbria and Dounreay in the Scottish Highlands.
Independent 4th Apr 2010 more >>
Uranium
At present Kyrgyzstan does not have enough financial and technical capabilities for ensuring due maintenance of radioactive waste storages and rehabilitation of polluted territories, informs the press service of the Zhogorku Kenesh.
24 kg 2nd April 2010 more >>
Years after a six-month deadline passed, dozens of nations, including uranium producers, remain potential weak links in the global defense against nuclear terrorism, ignoring a U.N. mandate on laws and controls to foil this ultimate threat. Niger, a major uranium exporter, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the source of the uranium for the first atomic bomb, are among the states falling short in complying with Security Council Resolution 1540, a key tool in efforts to block nuclear proliferation.
AP 3rd Apr 2010 more >>
Trident
About 100 protesters have taken part in a demonstration at the Faslane nuclear submarine base, as part of a European Day of Action to ban nuclear weapons. The protesters marched from the Peace Camp to the North Gate of HM Naval Base Clyde, near Helensburgh, home the UK’s nuclear weapon system.
BBC 3rd Apr 2010 more >>
Christians have shared communion while participating in a blockade of the Faslane nuclear weapons base in Scotland. The “symbolic blockade” today (3 April) forms part of a day of action across Europe, as campaigners from various countries call for the removal of nuclear arms from the entire continent.
Ekklesia 3rd Apr 2010 more >>
Menzies Campbell has today launched his review of options for the future of Britain’s nuclear weapons policy. Welcoming the review, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: “After wide consultation with security policy experts, Menzies Campbell has produced a thoroughgoing analysis which clearly demonstrates that there are credible alternatives to the like-for-like replacement of Trident.
Lib Dems 3rd Apr 2010 more >>
Venezuela
Russia has agreed to help Venezuela draw up plans for a nuclear power plant and space programme, President Hugo Chavez announced.
Telegraph 4th Apr 2010 more >>
Renewables
Iceland could pay the £3.48bn it owes the UK and Holland by providing the two countries with a steady stream of green electricity instead of cash, if an ambitious proposal by a small Dutch think-tank takes hold. There is huge potential in the country’s largely untapped sources of geothermal power – heat form the earth which can be used to drive turbines. The country’s largest power company, Landsvirkjun, believes a high voltage route to Scotland might be possible and is looking at the feasibility. Research from the company in 2000 estimated it would cost $1bn to lay a 750-mile line to Peterhead from a 600-megawattt energy plant.
Independent 4th Apr 2010 more >>
The Texan owner of the Nigg fabrication yard in Easter Ross is understood to be very close to agreeing a deal of between £20 million-£30m for offshore wind energy turbine piles which will create 400 jobs. KBR is expected to end months of speculation in the coming days by receiving formal board approval for an investment that will upgrade the plant to allow it to build the monopiles used to support offshore turbines in shallower waters. The deal will greatly strengthen Scotland’s position as a potential world leader in manufacturing the foundations for the offshore wind industry. Scotland already has the only foundation manufacturer in the UK in Burntisland Fabrication, which makes jacket structures for both shallow and deep water turbines from its fabrication bases at Methil in Fife and Arnish on the Isle of Lewis. With around 7,500 turbines required for UK territorial waters over the next 10 years to meet carbon reduction targets, it will also relieve concerns that the manufacturing industry is congregating in the north of England, near the biggest offshore wind allocations, and that Scotland could lose out.
Herald 4th Apr 2010 more >>
