Nuclear Testing
For the first time, the French government has been confronted with scientific evidence that its nuclear tests in the Pacific caused an increase in cancer on the nearest inhabited islands.
Independent 4th August 2005
Letter from Sue Rabbitt Roaf, Dundee University: The award of compensation to Roy Prescott from the US for a radiogenic condition for which he was denied a pension in the UK (US compensation for British nuclear test veteran, July 26) comes two weeks after the Australian government granted “non-liability” healthcare for all Australian participants in UK nuclear weapons tests. Several years ago, New Zealand followed the US model of “presuming” that participation in the tests could have been the cause of any condition suffered by veterans known to be potentially radiogenic. I have been involved in more than 60 successful claims in the UK for nuclear test veterans, but each case takes upward of two years (during which the claimant commonly dies).
Guardian 4th August 2006
Nuclear Weapons
Most people in Britain oppose the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system, a new report has shown. A survey of 1,000 adults for CND revealed that almost two out of three are against a new generation of nuclear missiles.
Ananova 4th August 2005
Sweden
Sweden’s nuclear power regulator may close down all 10 of the country’s reactors, after problems at one plant forced it to be shut down and two others were switched off as a safety precaution. Last week’s failure of a back-up power system at a reactor operated by Vattenfall, the Swedish energy company, activated the reactor’s emergency systems and forced its closure.
FT 4th August 2006
Sweden’s nuclear regulator SKI will meet in emergency session tomorrow (3 August) to decide on a possible immediate shut-down of all but one of the country’s nuclear power stations supplying up to 50% of Sweden’s electricity. Greenpeace has called for the reactors to be shut down following a serious incident last week at Sweden’s Forsmark nuclear power station, in which “it was pure luck there wasn’t a meltdown” according to a former director of the plant.
Greenpeace International Press Release 3rd August 2006
Swedish nuclear authorities held an emergency meeting Thursday after two reactors were shut down at a plant in the southeast of the country. The plant in Oskarshamn, about 250 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital, Stockholm, shut down two of its three reactors late Wednesday after the company running the plant reported that “safety there could not be guaranteed.” The decision followed an incident last week at another nuclear plant in Sweden, in Forsmark, where backup generators malfunctioned during a power outage, forcing a shutdown of one of its reactors, said Anders Bredfell, a spokesman for the Swedish nuclear authority, SKI. Bredfell said the reactors would remain shut until authorities determine whether the plant’s backup generators could malfunction in the same way as at Forsmark.
CNN Europe 3rd August 2006
BBC 3rd August 2006
Spain
The Spanish government has levied a record E1.6 million fine on the Vandellos II nuclear station, operated jointly by Endesa and Iberdrola. The government took the decision to impose a fine after the operators failed to implement changes recommended by the country’s nuclear safety agency. The amount charged against Iberdrola and Endesa is more than five times larger than the previous highest fine, which was also levied against the Vandellos II plant in 1997.
Energy Business Review 4th August 2006
Iran
Iran said on Thursday it was still weighing an international package of incentives to suspend its nuclear programme but conflict in Lebanon had diverted its attention.
Reuters 3rd August 2006
Sellafield
The operator of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site is in the process of recruiting 300 staff. British Nuclear Group (BNG) said many of the jobs have been created as part of the decommissioning process at the Cumbrian site. It said there was the possibility of 400 more jobs but it would depend on the company making sufficient savings to fund additional clean-up work.
BBC 3rd August 2006
Nuclear Waste Trains
Parents on a Stafford estate say they are outraged nuclear waste is passing within a few feet of a children’s play area near their homes. And they are demanding the route be altered.
Stafford Post 1st August 2006
Trains carrying nuclear waste are passing through Bescot up to three times a week. Last week timetables for radioactive waste rail transport across the UK were published for the first time by Greenpeace. The organisation claims it has released the information in a bid to make the government act to prevent terrorist attacks on what Greenpeace claim is a ‘vulnerable’ way of transporting radioactive material. But MP for Walsall South, Bruce George, has slammed the group, saying all it has done is alert potential terrorists to the movements of the hazardous waste.
Walsall Observer 2nd August 2006
Politics
Labour members delivered an embarrassing blow to the leadership yesterday by electing Walter Wolfgang, vice-chair of Labour CND, who was thrown out of the last conference for heckling, to the party’s ruling national executive committee.
Guardian 4th August 2006
How we lost people’s trust by Charles Kennedy: Several issues will cast a long shadow across the lifetime of the current parliament and beyond: Trident, for example, the future role of civil nuclear power and the recurrent reality of Britain’s place within Europe. These are all real issues of strategic substance that cut across conventional party political lines, but as they’re not considered “vote winners” they were barely raised during the last election.
Guardian 4th August 2006
British Energy
The government has appointed three banks to manage the sale of part of its 65 per cent stake in British Energy, the nuclear power group – an agreement that could raise more than £2bn. According to people close to the proposed move, Citibank, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch have been hired to manage the sale of British Energy shares later this year.
FT 4th August 2006
Nuclear Waste
Letter from David Lowry: The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) may find its proposals to ensure public approval of decisions over siting of a repository are, ironically, scuppered by the incompatibility between willing communities and the unsuitablity of their local geology (Nuclear panel suggests contest for waste burial, August 1). Evidence backing this may be found in a report by Nirex, Britain’s nuclear waste management agency. Its summary of “climate and landscape change” at 11 current nuclear sites suggests that by 2100, five years before the disposal repository should be full, four sites will be vulnerable to flooding, and three others vulnerable to coastal erosion.
Guardian 4th August 2006
