Radwaste
A community in west Cumbria fears it may be chosen to host an underground store for Britain’s nuclear waste. Residents in Ennerdale say their area of the Lake District is one of only a few places where the geology is thought to be suitable. They’ve set up a protest group and are holding a referendum to find out the views of everyone in the community. Samantha Parker has the full report.
ITV 5th Jan 2013 more »
Letter in reply to scaremongering professors jibe.
Radiation Free Lakeland 5th Jan 2013 more »
Those with an interest in wildlife will be aware that the nuclear industry from Kirksanton to Kakadu is no lover of the natural world. There are wildlife officers on the Sellafield site but they are there to make sure the wildlife is culled (the freezers on site hold many species of Cumbrian birds – waiting to be dumped as nuclear waste). Cumbria Wildlife Trust continues to receive money courtesy of the nuclear industry, Studsvik the radioactive scrap metal dealer at Lillyhall is a silver member of the Trust. Meanwhile Cumbria Wildlife Trust continues to dodge the biggest issue facing Cumbria’s wildlife – that of the proposed new nuclear build at Sellafield: ‘Moorcide,’ and the proposed nuclear dump, deeper than scafell is high, under a huge swathe of Lakeland.
Radiation Free Lakeland 5th Jan 2013 more »
Leaflet published by FoE North Lakes and West Cumbria.
Save Our Lake District 4th Jan 2013 more »
Energy Bill
THE chief corporate officer of Iberdrola in the UK has warned any delays to the Energy Bill will result in several shovel-ready projects being held up further. Keith Anderson, who also heads up ScottishPower Renewables, believes there are between 10 and 15 power plant developments with planning consent in the UK which could provide a huge boost to the beleaguered construction sector. But utility companies are reluctant to invest the hundreds of millions of pounds in new plants until they have clarity from policymakers on how the industry’s funding mechanisms will work. “We have two fully consented sites. One next to Damhead in Kent and one at Cockenzie [in East Lothian]. Those are fully consented and there are probably 10 to 15 sites like that across the sector but no-one is building as right now there is no clarity. “Give the clarity now and let us understand the mechanism and you will see the investment come through in an orderly fashion.”
Herald 5th Jan 2013 more »
Dounreay
Because Dounreay was built to produce plutonium for military use during the Cold War Dounreay is a war crime perpetrated on the people of Scotland by the British government. The collateral damage has been to the lives of the people of the North of Scotland and to the environment. The statistical evidence of the damage to public health due to nuclear related cancers, leukaemia and other diseases has been hidden, denied or explained away by nuclear “experts” as either being “naturally occurring” or manifesting in clusters due to circumstances “unrelated” to the siting of a several experimental nuclear reactors on the North coast of Caithness only a few miles from a town of almost 9,000 people.
Bella Caledonia 4th Jan 2013 more »
THE Scottish Office tried to prevent a leading Government radiation adviser from saying anything about contentious plans to dump nuclear waste at Dounreay, according to an official memo from 1989.Professor Martin Bobrow, the then chairman of the UK Government’s advisory Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (Comare), was due to speak at a public meeting near the Caithness nuclear plant on June 6, 1989. He had been invited there by the local health board following reports by Comare on excess numbers of childhood cancers around nuclear sites.ottish Office was alarmed that he might intervene in arguments over whether or not to allow test drilling for nuclear waste disposal at Dounreay. “There is really very little that I think Professor Bobrow can say on this subject without the risk of being caught up and quoted out of context,” said a memo from a Scottish Office official. “I would therefore strongly recommend that he listen to what is said but himself volunteer as little as may be”
Herald 6th Jan 2012 more »
Radioactive discharges from the Dounreay nuclear plant in Caithness triggered a fierce row with Norway in 1990, according to official files just released by the Scottish Government. Norwegian ministers made strong representations to the UK Government in protest at discharges that they said threatened their fishing industry. This prompted a flurry of memos within the UK Government, expressing concerns that the UK wasn’t doing enough to refute the Norwegian accusations. Malcolm Rifkind, the Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland at the time, wrote to the British ambassador in Oslo, David Ratford, agreeing that more “pre-emptive action” should be taken. “By its very nature the subject of radioactive waste attracts biased and inaccurate media coverage, which results in the creation of widespread concern both at home and abroad,” he wrote. “We should certainly do what we can to minimise that.”
Herad 6th Jan 2012 more »
Germany
Germany has decided to phase out nuclear power, but what about the leftover nuclear waste? A new law would allow Germany and other EU countries to export radioactive material. The search in Germany for a permanent storage facility for nuclear waste has been a long slog and has so far led nowhere. Late last year, due to ongoing protests by the anti-nuclear lobby, Environment Minister Peter Altmaier announced an end to suitability studies on an old salt mine in Gorleben, Lower Saxony, which for a long time was viewed as a possible long-term site for storing nuclear waste.
Deutsche Welle 5th Jan 2013 more »
German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier said Friday his country would never again return to nuclear energy, hitting back at a top EU official who doubted Berlin’s commitment to phase out nuclear power.
Times Live 4th Jan 2013 more »
China
Work on China’s largest planned nuclear facility has restarted, state media said on Saturday, a sign that the thaw in the country’s nuclear industry is gaining pace after it was frozen in response to Japan’s Fukushima atomic crisis in 2011.
Reuters 5th Jan 2013 more »
Belgium
Scientific experts have greenlighted the restart of two Belgian nuclear power plants despite signs of micro-cracks in reactor vessels, the daily Le Soir said Saturday.
France24 5th Jan 2013 more »
Renewables
Community Power enables individuals to take steps towards the betterment of the environment, their communities, and also their personal finances. It also enables these individuals to gather for a common purpose and achieve something extraordinary, as a community. This is where true economic, environmental and social sustainability lies. Through igniting individual behaviour change and community solidarity, Community Power starts an empowering process that enables communities to provide local solutions to their local needs for the long term.
Clean Technica 28th Dec 2012 more »
A FLEDGLING company is to receive a £15.5m public-private investment to develop the world’s largest wind turbine blades. The funding could establish Blade Dynamics, a five-year-old business on the Isle of Wight, as a big player in the turbine sector. Britain is the world’s biggest producer of offshore wind energy but nearly all the technology comes from foreign companies. The lack of domestic involvement has inflamed the debate over the government’s so far unfulfilled pledge to create hundreds of thousands of jobs with its ambitious “green revolution”. The investment will come from the Energy Technologies Institute, a group set up by the government and companies including Rolls-Royce and BP to boost development of low-carbon technology. Blade Dynamics is working on blades for turbines capable of producing up to 10 megawatts, which could supply electricity for as many as 10,000 homes. They would be huge, with a tower as high as 170 metres and blades up to 100 metres. The company will make the blades from carbon fibre, which is much lighter than the fibreglass normally used.
Sunday Times 6th Jan 2012 more »
ABSOLUTE Solar & Wind, a Glasgow-based renewable energy installer, has shrugged off changes to the UK government’s solar panel subsidies to more than double its turnover.
Scotland on Sunday 6th Jan 2013 more »
