Radiation & Health
THE NHS is set to appeal to the House of Lords in a last-ditch attempt to stop the publication of child leukaemia statistics. Officials in the NHS Common Services Agency (CSA) have opted not to accept a court of session ruling which ordered the body to hand over the secret data. The legal move is the first time a public body has taken a freedom of information (FoI) dispute to the UK’s final court of appeal. The saga began when Michael Collie, a researcher for Green MSP Chris Ballance, asked the CSA in January 2005 for records of leukaemia in under-15s in Dumfries and Galloway. He wanted to know if there were any cancer hotspots next to the Chapelcross nuclear plant or the Dundrennan military range. There have long been suspicions that clusters of the potentially fatal blood cancer could have been caused by radioactive pollution.
Sunday Herald 4th Feb 2007
Iran
The nuclear brinkmanship between Iran and the West is expected to step up a gear amid predictions that Tehran is about to announce that it has begun industrial-scale production of enriched uranium. Iran has started installing about 3,000 centrifuges, the machines that can turn uranium into fuel for nuclear reactors or bombs, at a huge plant in Natanz – a prime target if the US or Israel conclude that there is no other way to stop Iran acquiring the bomb.
Independent 5th Feb 2007
Military strikes on Iran’s nuclear programme would have “disastrous” consequences, escalating the terrorist threat and dealing a severe blow to the world economy, according to Britain’s last ambassador in Teheran.
Telegraph 5th Feb 2007
A wide coalition of foreign policy thinktanks, former US generals, and faith groups, will today sound a much needed counter blast to the argument growing in Washington and Israel that if Iran can not be persuaded to suspend uranium enrichment voluntarily, its bomb making plans should be terminated by force.
Guardian 5th Feb 2007
Emergency Planning
This is the Corsham bunker, where the nation’s elite would have retreated in the event of nuclear war. Built at the height of cold war paranoia, it has since been left to crumble. So is the government still preparing for the worst?
Guardia 5th Feb 2007
France
Total, the French energy group, is setting its sights on nuclear energy as access to oil and gas becomes more restricted and countries unwilling to allow foreign investment in their most precious resource.
FT 5th Feb 2007
North Korea
North Korea’s top nuclear envoy has told former U.S. officials that Pyongyang wants more than half a million tonnes of fuel oil a year in return for suspending its atomic reactor.
Reuters 4th Feb 2007
Interactive Investor 4th Feb 2007
Electricity generation
RWE npower, the German utility, will unveil plans today to spend £800 million on one of the biggest gas-fired power plants to be built in Britain.
Times 5th Feb 2007
