THORP
THORP will shut for up to seven months, but Sellafield bosses say it is not being forced to close. From next month, the key reprocessing plant is going into “a planned engineering and maintenance” shutdown which will have no impact on the 1,500 workforce. But during the shutdown special attention will be given to Evaporator C which processes the Thorp fuel. Operators Sellafield Ltd said this had nothing to do with the recent failure of Evaporator B which raised a threat to Thorp operations. Yesterday, management criticised Cumbrian anti-nuclear group Core for giving the impression the shutdown was enforced only hours after spokesman Martin Forwood was given the opportunity to discuss issues with them.
Whitehaven News 3rd June 2009 more >>
Sellafield
SELLAFIELD clocked up a major milestone this week with the production of the 5000th container of high level solid waste into glass blocks. The conversion is carried out in the vitrification plant so that the waste can be stored safely and more suitably for eventual transport and storage. Vitrification also reduces the volume of liquid waste to one third of its original volume and the 5000th container also marks another milestone – 40,000 tonnes of uranium reprocessed through both the Thorp and the Magnox plants combined.
Whitehaven News 3rd June 2009 more >>
THE new Bishop of Carlisle has given his blessing to the nuclear industry and welcomes the prospect of expansion at Sellafield bringing new investment to the area.
Whitehaven News 3rd June 2009 more >>
Low Level Waste
PLANS to allow drilling which could pave the way for a low-level radioactive waste site at Keekle Head have been backed by Copeland councillors.
Whitehaven News 3rd June 2009 more >>
Sweden
The eastern Swedish town of sthammar has seen off rival bidder Oskarshamn and secured a lucrative deal to store nuclear waste for the next 100,000 years, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) said in a statement on Wednesday. The sthammar site is located near the Forsmark nuclear facility and was chosen in part because rock at the level where the spent nuclear fuel will be stored is dry and relatively free of fractures.
The Local 3rd June 2009 more >>
World Nuclear News 3rd June 2009 more >>
US
Sensitive, but not classified, information on U.S. nuclear sites was posted to the Government Printing Office Web site. The information, now removed, included maps of locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.
eWeek 3rd June 2009 more >>
Guardian 3rd June 2009 more >>
BBC 3rd June 2009 more >>
North Korea
The families of two American journalists accused of illegally entering North Korea say they have now been held in solitary confinement for more than two months and are “very, very scared” about their trial, which begins in Pyongyang this morning.
Independent 4th June 2009 more >>
Iran
French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Iran Wednesday that it risked deepening its international isolation if it did not agree to talks with the world’s biggest powers on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Reuters 3rd June 2009 more >>
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said his country is not planning unilateral military action to disable Iran’s nuclear programme.
BBC 3rd June 2009 more >>
Renewables
Green energy overtook fossil fuels in attracting investment for power generation for the first time last year, according to figures released today by the United Nations. Wind, solar and other clean technologies attracted $140bn (85bn) compared with $110bn for gas and coal for electrical power generation, with more than a third of the green cash destined for Britain and the rest of Europe.
Guardian 4th June 2009 more >>
