Slovenia
The UN’s atomic watchdog said it is monitoring Slovenia’s nuclear plant at Krsko, after it began shutting down on Wednesday following a problem with the cooling system, but that it had been at the lowest of the four nuclear emergency levels. The Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (SNSA) had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) about an “unusual event” at Krsko, said an IAEA statement released late Wednesday. But the SNSA “said there was no radiation release to the environment”.
AFX 5th June 2008 more >>
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The EU’s executive arm activated its European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange (ECURIE) system, immediately transmitting the information to all 27 member states. “At this point in time, no discharge to the environment has been identified,” the commission said, adding that the power of the reactor was at 22 percent and “the safe shutdown is still in progress.” The ECURIE system requires early notification and exchange of information “in the event of a radiological or nuclear emergency.”
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Wales
THE National Eisteddfod is set to receive a welcome financial boost from a nuclear power company, the Daily Post can reveal. Magnox North, the current owners of the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, has agreed to donate £50,000 towards the £3m cost of staging next year’s festival at Bala.
Daily Post 4th June 2008 more >>
US
Nevada officials say they’ve filed the first challenge to a Bush administration bid to win Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for a national nuclear waste dump outside Las Vegas.
Money AM 4th June 2008 more >>
IHT 4th June 2008 more >>
Hundreds of scientists have been laid off at America’s most important nuclear weapons design laboratory, prompting fears that they could sell their expertise to hostile foreign powers. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco made 440 staff redundant last month, many of them involved in nuclear weapons work or efforts to stop other countries acquiring them.
Telegraph 5th June 2008 more >>
In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has begun reviewing nine applications for licenses to build new reactors, the first since 1979 when a plant at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania came close to a catastrophic nuclear meltdown. In their analysis, entitled The Nuclear Illusion, Amory B. Lovins and Imran Sheikh write that “turning (nuclear) ambitions into actual investments, firm orders, and operating plants faces fundamental obstacles that are now first and foremost economic, since the political obstacles related to safety, waste, proliferation etc. can be and in many countries have been bypassed by fiat.”
Reuters 4th June 2008 more >>
Japan
A nuclear reprocessing plant in northern Japan is sited directly above an active geological fault line that could produce a magnitude 8 earthquake, some earth scientists say. The massive Rokkasho plant for uranium enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing and nuclear-waste storage is built on an uplifted marine terrace of sloping sedimentary rock layers on the northeast coast of the island of Honshu.
Nature 4th June 2008 more >>
Iran
Ehud Olmert, the prime minister of Israel, has sought to increase pressure on Iran by saying “all possible means” must be used to stop the Islamic republic from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Telegraph 5th June 2008 more >>
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Daily Mirror 4th June 2008 more >>
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was today set to meet the US president, George Bush, to discuss concerns over Iran. Both leaders claim the country remains a serious problem, and Olmert believes it has yet to suspend its weapons programme and remains intent on developing a nuclear arsenal.
Guardian 4th June 2008 more >>
The USA and Britain will use the same techniques they used to justify aggression against Iraq – falsehood, deception and disinformation – in order to attack Iran and seize its oil, argues Christopher King.
Middle East Online 4th June 2008 more >>
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion has the potential to transform the way that we generate energy forever. Fusion describes the process of forcing atoms together to release energy, as opposed to nuclear fission, the process used in current nuclear reactors, which forces atoms apart. If successful, and nuclear fusion reactors are not expected to start producing energy until around 2040, these fusion reactions could be a never-ending source of energy with absolutely zero carbon dioxide emissions.
Independent 31st May 2008 more >>
Renewables
A new programme to open up the UK’s seas to more wind farms was launched today as part of a bid to increase massively the supply of offshore renewable power. The Crown Estate, owner of the seabed around Britain, launched round three of its scheme to license companies to build wind farms, which it hopes will speed up the delivery of offshore renewables.
Independent 4th June 2008 more >>
Times 5th June 2008 more >>
Coal
Malcolm Wicks, the Energy Minister, was accused of recklessness yesterday for supporting the construction of a coal-fired power plant. The Environmental Audit Select Committee said that the Government was rushing into the planned £1.5billion E.ON plant at Kingsnorth, Kent, before it had successfully developed carbon-cleaning technology. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is intended to capture the carbon produced when fossil fuels are burnt in power plants, so that it can be safely stored rather than being released into the atmosphere.
Times 5th June 2008 more >>
