Sizewell
MILLIONS of pounds in business rates payable by the owners of Sizewell C should stay in Suffolk rather than go to the Treasury, council bosses have urged. Business rates currently payable for Sizewell B and other nuclear plants in the UK are collected by local authorities but are relayed to the coffers of the Treasury. With a Sizewell C plant on the horizon, Suffolk County and Suffolk Coastal District councils are calling on the Government to allow such money to be retained locally to form part of the community benefit arising from major energy projects.
Norwich Evening News 5th June 2012 more >>
Dungeness
EDF Energy’s 550 megawatt (MW) Dungeness B22 nuclear reactor resumed output over the extended British holiday weekend, data from network operator National Grid showed.
Reuters 6th June 2012 more >>
PLEX
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be holding a meeting this week to consider having nuclear power plants run 80 yearsalthough they were never seen as running for more than 40 years because of radioactivity embrittling metal parts and otherwise causing safety problems. The idea of keeping these reactors going for 80 years is crazy! declares Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and former senior policy advisor at the U.S, Department of Energy and a U.S. Senate senior investigator. He is also an author of the book Killing Our Own: The Disaster of Americas Experience with Atomic Radiation. To double the design life of these plantswhich operate under high-pressure, high heat conditions and are subject to radiation fatigueis an example of out-of-control hubris, of believing your own lies.
Counter Punch 4th June 2012 more >>
Chernobyl
Chernobyl Deaths Top a Million Based on Real Evidence.
Institute of Science in Society 24th May 2012 more >>
Japan
Fukushima update 1st to 4th June 2012.
Greenpeaqce 5th June 2012 more >>
A JAPANESE research agency has dropped a controversial campaign aimed at educating women about nuclear safety which compared radiation to the voice of an angry wife. The Japanese Atomic Energy Agency devoted a page on its website to an effort to make the hard words used in the nuclear power industry easier to understand, particularly for women. The page, which included a cartoon of an angry, fist-waving wife and her cowering husband, compared the wifes yell to radiation. It said the womens increasing agitation could be compared to radioactivity, while the wife herself was comparable to radioactive material. The webpage was dropped on Monday after the agency received dozens of complaints.
Scotsman 6th June 2012 more >>
India & Pakistan
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Pakistan has expanded its short-range missile capability while India is developing weapons systems which can fire nuclear warheads from land, sea and air. The escalation in nuclear capabilities has caused alarm because, despite recent improvements in relations between the two countries, the threat of a nuclear conflict remains.
Telegraph 5th June 2012 more >>
Pakistan says it has successfully test fired a nuclear-capable Hatf-VII cruise missile.
Reuters 5th June 2012 more >>
North Korea
The United States and the European Union urged North Korea on Tuesday to resume nuclear talks with the international community, stalled since April when Pyongyang launched a missile that flopped.
EU Business 5th June 2012 more >>
Iran
If the world recognises Iran’s “nuclear rights”, negotiations aimed at easing a standoff with the West later this month could have a positive outcome.
Reuters 5th June 2012 more >>
