New Nukes
Partners in Britain’s first two new atomic reactors, EDF and Centrica, have injected £435m of capital into their nuclear consortium – despite no planning permission or certainty on Government policy yet.
Telegraph 6th Dec 2010 more >>
Radwaste
Roger Woodwell, former Head of Environment Group for Cumbria County Council. Perhaps WikiLeaks will provide information about the apparent resurrection of proposals for underground disposal of nuclear waste in West Cumbria? That is after what most people would regard as a final decision on 17th March 1997, just prior to a General Election, when the then Secretary of State for the Environment, John Gummer, rejected Nirex’s planning application. Gummer justified his refusal saying that he remains: “ concerned about the scientific uncertainties and technical deficiencies in the proposals presented by Nirex [and] about the process of site selection and the broader issue of the scope and adequacy of the environmental statement.” In a letter to Nirex he said: “ your company does not understand the regional hydrogeological system well enough.” So, after over 15 years of work and an expenditure of around half a billion of taxpayer’s money, what has changed? Could this be connected to the government’s decision to proceed with new nuclear development?
Westmorland Gazette Forum 5th Dec 2010 more >>
Nuclear Ships
Nuclear propulsion could make a long-awaited breakthrough into powering commercial vessels after a study was launched by London-based Lloyd’s Register. Enterprises Shipping and Trading, one of Greece’s largest oil-tanker owners, is funding the study, underlining the serious renewed interest in the technology. Nuclear is one of several alternative power options under review as looming restrictions on ships’ emissions force owners to reconsider the use of heavy fuel oil.
FT 6th Dec 2010 more >>
Iran
Iran claimed yesterday it could use domestically mined uranium to produce nuclear fuel, giving the country complete control over a process the West suspects is geared toward producing weapons. Tehran made the claim a day before a new round of nuclear talks with world powers that want to rein in Iran’s uranium enrichment – a process that can be used to make fuel for nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.
Scotsman 6th Dec 2010 more >>
Daily Mail 6th Dec 2010 more >>
Guardian 6th Dec 2010 more >>
STV 5th Dec 2010 more >>
Long-stalled talks about Iran’s nuclear program are set to resume in Switzerland Monday, one day after Tehran touted that it has everything needed to produce nuclear fuel.
CNN 6th Dec 2010 more >>
STV 5th Dec 2010 more >>
Weapons-grade uranium process explained: The seven main processes involved in making enriched uranium from mined ore.
Guardian 6th Dec 2010 more >>
China
BIRMINGHAM engineering group IMI has signed a deal to take it into the Chinese nuclear power market – the fastest growing in the world. IMI said today it had entered into a memorandum of understanding to create a new venture in China with Shanghai Automation Instrumentation Company Ltd (SAIC).
Business Desk 6th Dec 2010 more >>
India
India has signed a deal to buy nuclear reactors off France, following talks between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi.
BBC 6th Dec 2010 more >>
Neutron Bomb
In his memoir, Shame: Confessions of the Father of the Neutron Bomb (1998), Sam Cohen, who has died aged 89 of complications from stomach cancer, recalled visiting Seoul in 1951, during the Korean war, and witnessing scenes of intolerable devastation. “I’d seen countless pictures of Hiroshima by then,” Cohen said, “and what I saw in Seoul was precious little different.” Cohen asked himself: “If we are going to go on fighting these damned fool wars in the future, shelling and bombing cities to smithereens and wrecking the lives of their inhabitants, might there be some kind of nuclear weapon that could avoid all this?”
Guardian 6th Dec 2010 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
MI5 has been investigating a House of Commons researcher at the centre of a Russian spy scandal for more than six months, it is understood. Katia Zatuliveter, who works for an MP on the sensitive Defence Select Committee, has been arrested and served with a deportation order on the grounds of national security. She is accused of using her position to try and gain sensitive material from the Government, after questions were tabled from the office of her employer, Mike Hancock MP, requesting an inventory of Britain’s nuclear arsenal and the location of its international submarine bases.
Telegraph 6th Dec 2010 more >>
A Liberal Democrat MP who hired an alleged Russian spy as his research assistant has tabled a series of parliamentary questions about Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent and the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston since the election. Mike Hancock yesterday insisted there was nothing unusual about asking for the locations of berths for submarines as he launched a staunch defence of Katia Zatuliveter, who was arrested on Thursday and is facing deportation over allegations that she spied for Russia.
Guardian 6th Dec 2010 more >>
PQs by Mike Hancock MP.
Guardian 6th Dec 2010 more >>
Daily Mirror 6th Dec 2010 more >>
Renewables
Qataris have committed to having all 12 of their stadia fully air conditioned. This includes ones that are “open-air” in a country where temperatures regularly move higher than 40 degrees centigrade in the summer months. “All of the stadiums will harness the power of the sun’s rays to provide a cool environment for players and fans by converting solar energy into electricity that will then be used to cool both fans and players,” the Qatari bid says. “When games are not taking place, the solar installations at the stadiums will export energy onto the power grid. During matches, the stadiums will draw energy from the grid. This is the basis for the stadiums’ carbon-neutrality.”
Telegraph 6th Dec 2010 more >>
