Nuclear Subsidies
EDF’s Hinkley Point C proposal is not the UK’s only new nuclear power option, energy secretary Ed Davey insisted yesterday. In an interview on BBC’s Newsnight, Davey reiterated a commitment to make sure any deal struck on support for nuclear was good value for the taxpayer. He played down the strength of EDF’s negotiating position, saying there were three consortia interested in building nuclear power stations in the UK. When asked whether EDF had the government “over a barrel”, Davey insisted “absolutely not”. He declined to say how long it would take to strike an agreement. “Anyone who puts a deadline on negotiations gets a bad deal,” he said. EDF’s plans for a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset are the most advanced, he admitted. However, he noted Hitachi, which last year bought into the Horizon project, had “an extremely good track record of delivering on time and on budget”. That was in implicit contrast to EDF, which has seen the cost of its Flamanville plant in France double.
Utility Week 4th April 2013 read more »
Dungeness
WITH the decision on whether to allow a major expansion of Lydd Airport said to be imminent the European Commission has raised safety concerns over its proximity to Dungeness nuclear power station. The power station is just three miles and 60 seconds flight time away from the power station. Now the European Commission has written to the UK Government expressing concerns.
Rye and Battle Observer 5th April 2013 read more »
Sellafield
Letter from Elaine Woodburn: Over 12 months ago, Coun Tim Knowles and myself criticised Sellafield over their plan to merge their contracts into large framework contracts. These contracts average out at £1.5billion, and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) could not bid because firms needed to employ over 250 employees.
Whitehaven News 4th April 2013 read more »
THE leader of Copeland Council has criticised the nuclear industry for failing to deliver benefits to the wider West Cumbrian economy. Elaine Woodburn has called for Sellafield – and the nuclear industry as a whole – to be accountable for what she sees as its failure to deliver community benefits through the contracts it awards. Sellafield says that it has “always recognised the importance of socio-economics” and points at the ongoing work at Albion Square and The Beacon as examples.
In Cumbria 4th April 2013 read more »
Whitehaven News 4th April 2013 read more »
NEGOTIATIONS over a new pay deal for 10,000 Sellafield workers have stalled. Sellafield Ltd offered employees a two per cent pay rise with an extra half per cent if they agree to return to an overtime sytem, rather than take extra hours as time off unpaid. However nuclear unions GMB, Unite and Prospect rejected a two-year deal.
NW Evening Mail 4th April 2013 read more »
Whitehaven News 4th April 2013 read more »
Cumbria
ANTI-NUCLEAR protestors demonstrated outside Victoria Hall in Grange-over-Sands where the Morecambe Bay Partnership was holding its AGM. The campaigners want the partnership which co-ordinates action to improve the environment and quality of life around the Bay to oppose new nuclear power stations at Heysham and Sellafield.
Radiation Free Lakeland 4th April 2013 read more »
Japan
Japanese nuclear regulators say the cooling system has failed for a storage pool for fuel at one of the reactors at the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant in the northeast. There was no immediate danger from the failure, the second at the plant in a month.
Star Tribune 5th April 2013 read more »
Korea
New Scientist puts the sabre-rattling in context.
New Scientists 4th April 2013 read more »
Letter David Lowry: Your leading article on North Korea asserts that “it is a rogue state that will violate agreements if it appears advantageous to do so”. North Korea is not bound by the conditions of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) as it withdrew in January 2003, which is permitted under treaty Article X. The UK, on the other hand, is committed to negotiating away all its nuclear weapons in multilateral nuclear disarmament talks. However, 43 years after ratifying the NPT, the UK remains in violation of this obligation, having not entered a single nuclear warhead into negotiations, although a small number have unilaterally been withdrawn. Ironically, on the day North Korea threatened to reopen its Yongbong plutonium production reactor — built from a blueprint of the UK plutonium production reactor at Calder Hall, Sellafield — you report that South Korea wants to resurrect bilateral South Korea-UK nuclear relations, by opening a London commercial office.
Times 5th April 2013 read more »
The Obama administration has engaged in reckless provocations against North Korea over the past month, inflaming tensions in North East Asia and heightening the risks of war. Its campaign has been accompanied by the relentless demonising of the North Korean regime and claims that the US military build-up was purely “defensive”.
World Socialist Web 5th April 2013 read more »
NORTH Korea has moved a nuclear weapon to within striking distance of South Korea, Japan and American bases in the region.
Express 5th April 2013 read more »
THE threat of nuclear war grew yesterday as North Korea warned: “The moment of explosion is near.”
Daily Star 5th April 2013 read more »
Pyongyang’s latest tactic has been to move a long-range missile towards its east coast, where one of its key launch sites is located. It is very unlikely that North Korea plans to start a nuclear conflict (not least, it is almost certainly technically unable to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US) but there is a risk that Kim Jong-un will start a conventional war by accident.
Independent 4th April 2013 read more »
North Korea’s vow to restart its mothballed nuclear facilities raises fears about assembly lines churning out fuel for a fearsome arsenal of nuclear missiles. But it may actually be a sign that Pyongyang needs a lot more bomb fuel to back up its nuclear threats. Despite the bluster, it could be years before North Korea completes the laborious process of creating more weaponised fuel.
Daily Mail 4th April 2013 read more »
South Asia
An Aesopian nuclear competition is under way between Pakistan and India. Pakistan, whose economy and domestic cohesion are steadily worsening, is the hare, racing to devote scarce resources to compete with a country whose economy is nine times as great. India is the tortoise: Its nuclear program is moving steadily forward without great exertion.
New York Times 4th April 2013 read more »
Iran
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili sounded a defiant note ahead of talks with world powers in Kazakhstan, saying they had to recognise Iran’s right to a nuclear programme.
Herald 5th April 2013 read more »
BBC 5th April 2013 read more »
Canada
France-based Alstom has secured a contract from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to refurbish and renew the 3,512MW Darlington nuclear plant, located in Darlington, Ontario. Under the long-term contract, valued at EUR265m, Alstom will renovate four units each with a capacity of 900MW at the facility and increase the lifespan of the plant by another 25 to 30 years.
Energy Business Review 5th April 2013 read more »
Turkey
Turkey is close to making a decision in a $22 billion tender as a report said a Japanese-French consortium was in the lead to build the country’s second nuclear plant to power its rapidly developing economy. “There is no scheduled timeline when the tender process will be finalised but all I can say is that we are nearing the end,” a senior energy ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Middle East Online 4th April 2013 read more »
Trident
North Korea insists that its nuclear military capacity is all that has stood between its independence and invasion by the US – and David Cameron agrees with Pyongyang. That is the only interpretation that can be put on the Prime Minister’s claim that abandoning nuclear weapons would leave Britain defenceless.
Morning Star 4th April 2013 read more »
North Korea could hit Britain with a nuclear weapon, David Cameron claimed today. The Prime Minister said the crackpot regime’s arsenal was now so powerful the “whole” of America, Europe and the UK was within reach. Mr Cameron’s remarks sparked comparisons with Tony Blair’s infamous claim that Saddam Hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction with 45 minutes. James Hardy, Asia Pacific Editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly, dismissed claims North Korea could threaten Britain. He said: “From what we know of its existing inventory, North Korea has short and medium range missiles that could complicate a situation on the Korean Peninsula (and perhaps reach Japan), but we have not seen any evidence that it has long-range missiles that could strike the continental US, Guam or Hawaii.” Labour MP Paul Flynn added: “This is wild, hysterical, desperate scaremongering by a worried Prime Minister.
Mirror 4th April 2013 read more »
David Cameron provoked surprise today when he claimed that North Korea now possessed the capability to launch a nuclear strike against Britain.
Independent 4th April 2013 read more »
Express 4th April 2013 read more »
Guardian 4th April 2013 read more »
THE Prime Minister chose an opportune moment to make one of his relatively rare forays into Scotland yesterday. With the First Minister away on his travels and some alarming nuclear-fuelled sabre-rattling emanating from North Korea, there is not going to be a better time to talk about the nuclear deterrent. David Cameron knows this is a tricky subject, with polls showing four in five Scots keen to see the back of Trident. That is why the SNP would like, with some justification, to turn debates about defence policy into an argument about Trident.
Herald 5th April 2013 read more »
In the event of Scottish independence, Alex Salmond wants Scotland to have the North Sea oil and England to take Trident. Imagine his delight if he gets his way.
Telegraph 4th April 2013 read more »
Campaigners have described the Prime Minister’s claims that the “growing threat” from Iran and North Korea necessitated replacing Trident as a “slap in the face for nuclear disarmament efforts.” David Cameron wrote today in the Daily Telegraph that it would be “foolish” to leave the country defenceless when a “highly unpredictable and aggressive” regime in North Korea was developing ballistic missiles which could eventually threaten Europe.
Morning Star 4th April 2013 read more »
David Cameron had himself winched on to a ballistic missile submarine in Scottish waters on Thursday as he battled to defend both the UK’s nuclear forces and the three-century-old union between England and Scotland. The prime minister’s visit, his first to Scotland for half a year, came amid fraying support for full replacement of Britain’s Scottish-based Trident missile submarines and only a year before Scotland holds an independence plebiscite.
FT 5th April 2013 read more »
North Korea has done one western leader a small favour. David Cameron has chosen this week to mount the most public defence of the UK’s Trident missile system of his premiership. Writing in the Daily Telegraph the prime minister seized on North Korea’s unpredictability and aggression as reasons for renewing Trident on a like-for-like basis between now and 2028. It would be foolish to be defenceless against potential nuclear provocateurs such as North Korea and Iran, Mr Cameron argued. The cold war may be over, he wrote, but the nuclear threat, including the threat to Britain, remains.
Guardian 4th April 2013 read more »
DAVID CAMERON yesterday visited a submarine which carries Britain’s Trident missiles. The Prime Minister was on HMS Victorious after it returned from its 100th patrol to Faslane on the River Clyde. He said it is a necessary to keep the nuclear missiles as an “insurance policy against risks”.
Daily Star 5th April 2013 read more »
DAVID Cameron has told Scots that keeping Trident as part of the UK is the country’s only safeguard against “nuclear blackmail” in years to come in a speech in Glasgow.
Scotsman 5th April 2013 read more »
Prime Minister David Cameron reopened a rift in his coalition government over the future of Britain’s nuclear deterrent on Thursday, saying potential threats from countries such as Iran and North Korea meant it could not be scaled back.Cameron’s comments put him at odds with his Liberal Democrat coalition partners who want to find a cheaper alternative to Britain’s multi-billion pound submarine-based Trident nuclear missile system to try to save money at a time when the nation’s finances are mired in debt.
Reuters 4th April 2013 read more »
The Prime Minister has said that it would be “foolish” for Britain to abandon its Trident nuclear deterrent system in the face of threats from N Korea and other regimes. Mark Fitzpatrick, Director of Nuclear Non-Proliferation and disarmament, at the International Institute for Strategic Studies believes the David Cameron is “correct” in his assessment. The Prime Minister was certainly correct as to the growing nuclear threat from North Korea and the uncertainties of the future. North Korea does not have any missile capabilities that could hit Britain and it is difficult to envision circumstances when North Korea ever would want to attack the UK even if they could. But as Mr Cameron noted, North Korea is a notorious source of missile and nuclear technology to other outlier states.
ITV 4th April 2013 read more »
David Cameron’s comments on Trident today are ‘promoting a logic of proliferation’ the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has said. Despite the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty preparatory committee convening in just two week’s time, David Cameron is backing Britain’s nuclear rearmament, rather than international disarmament efforts. He said ‘a world without nuclear weapons is a fine ideal…’ but then followed it up with: ‘I am determined that we will maintain [nuclear weapons] for generations to come.’
CND 4th April 2013 read more »
Shadow defence minister Kevan Jones has said it is “absolutely right and necessary” for the UK to retain an independent nuclear deterrent, but it must take into account the costs involved.
ITV 4th April 2013 read more »
The Liberal Democrats hit back at David Cameron today after he poured scorn on their opposition to the £25bn plan to renew Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system. The Prime Minister, who is visiting Scotland where the UK’s four Vanguard submarines are based, said it would be “foolish” to consider scrapping the system when Britain may be in range of ballistic missiles fired by the “highly unpredictable and aggressive regime” in North Korea.
Independent 4th April 2013 read more »
