New nukes
The UK government is likely to give approval for the construction of a new generation of nuclear power plants in November.
Energy Business Review 4th Oct 2007 more >>
This is Money 30th Sept 2007 more >>
Foreign workers will be needed to provide the skills to increase the UK’s nuclear power capacity, an expert has conceded. EDF Energy HR director Tim Boylin told Personnel Today that the firm would look to its French parent to supply specialist nuclear workers.
Personnel Today 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
We’re pretty impressed at the depths New Labour will sink to push a bad idea – so much so that we’ve made this video about the government’s Energy Review – the latest ploy in their tireless efforts to revive the dirty and dangerous nuclear industry.
Greenpeace Video 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
Windscale
50 years after the fire at Windscale in Cumbria, UK, on 10 and 11 October 1957, it has emerged that the resulting radioactive cloud spread contamination over large parts of Europe, much further than previously admitted. The fire raged in the bomb-making reactor for 17 hours, dumping contamination over a large swathe of England. Across the north-west of the country radioactive milk was poured away for several weeks. Researchers in the UK and Norway have now shown that radioactivity was blown east over Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, and north over Scandinavia
New Scientist 03 October 2007 more >>
Rob Edwards.com 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
Dounreay
Dounreay’s operator is to unveil its preferred option for cleaning up radioactive particles around the Caithness nuclear plant. About 100 of the hotspots have been found on the nearby Sandside Beach since monitoring began. It is thought the clean-up plan could involve a multi-million pound operation to dredge up part of the local seabed. The UK Atomic Energy Authority is also expected to announce an in-depth survey of the beach and more monitoring. About 100 particles have been removed from the beach along the coast from the Dounreay nuclear site since monitoring was ordered by environmental watchdogs. It is thought that thousands more metallic fragments of reprocessed reactor fuel remain on the seabed.
BBC 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
Nuclear plant bosses today revealed plans for a £25 million clean-up operation to remove thousands of radioactive particles released into the sea. The preferred option for dealing with the legacy of the nuclear fragments which leaked from the Dounreay site in Caithness has been announced. The seven-year project involves using remotely operated vehicles to scour an area of seabed the size of 60 football pitches.
Herald 4th Oct 2007 more >>
Scotsman 4th Oct 2007 more >>
Dounreay dome hotel could be idea for a fission holiday.
John O Groat Journal 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
MANAGERS at Dounreay are confident no-one has been harmed by the shock find of plutonium in a groundwater drain at the site during the summer. Tests were carried out on eight workers after fears that they might have breathed in particles of the potentially lethal substance. But the concerns have been allayed after the results proved negative.
John O Groat Journal 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
South Asia
A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could cause one billion people to starve to death around the world, and hundreds of millions more to die from disease and conflicts over food. That is the horrifying scenario being presented in London today by a US medical expert, Ira Helfand. A conference at the Royal Society of Medicine will also hear new evidence of the severe damage that such a war could inflict on the ozone layer.
New Scientist 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
Rob Edwards.com 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
Korea
The agreement by North Korea to dismantle its nuclear facilities by the end of the year represents a major step forward in the long, tortuous process of six-party negotiations.
BBC 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
Guardian website 4th Oct 2007 more >>
Daily Mail 4th Oct 2007 more >>
Independent 4th Oct 2007 more >>
A US-led team of nuclear experts will travel to North Korea within two weeks to oversee the disabling of the reclusive state’s reactor, it was announced yesterday, in an important step towards easing tension on the divided peninsula.
Guardian 4th Oct 2007 more >>
Sky News 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
Emergency Planning
People have been queuing up for pills to keep them safe from the effects of a radioactive leak from a nuclear submarine in a mock-up of how the area would cope with such a disaster. NHS chiefs put themselves on an imaginary red alert, checking how they would manage if a genuine nuclear crisis hit Portsmouth Harbour.
Portsmouth News 4th Oct 2007 more >>
US
The Department of Energy has awarded four contracts to study the feasibility of using recycled nuclear power plant fuel in a new breed of reactors. The largest contract, for $5.6 million, was awarded Monday to Bethesda-based International Nuclear Recycling Alliance, which is led by French state-owned nuclear power plant supplier AREVA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Areva is building reactors in the United States with Constellation Energy, the parent of Baltimore Gas & Electric and the operator of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. EnergySolutions, LLC received a $4.3 million contract; GE-Hitachi Nuclear Americas, LLC, received a $4.8 million contract; and General Atomics was awarded a $1.6 million contract.
Business Week 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
Barack Obama, the US Democratic presidential hopeful, pledged on Tuesday that as president he would work towards the elimination of nuclear weapons around the world by reviving the original goals of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
FT 2nd Oct 2007 more >>
The US significantly increased the rate its nuclear weapons were dismantled during the fiscal year 2007.
World Nuclear News 3rd Oct 2007 more >>
