NDA
The Government’s handling of the nuclear power industry’s rebirth was attacked by MPs last night as it emerged that the executive responsible for the £73 billion clean-up operation has still not been replaced eight months after his departure. Ian Roxburgh quit as chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a key organisation tasked with the clean-up of 19 toxic UK sites, including Sellafield, Harwell and Dounreay, last July. But The Times has learnt that the NDA is still struggling to find a replacement, leaving a string of pressing issues building up in his successor’s in-tray, including questions over how the UK should handle waste created by new reactors.
Times 6th Mar 2009 more >>
New Nukes
We are at the dawn of a new nuclear age, and, this time, it’s good news. Increasing the provision of nuclear energy is the best way to stop the lights going out and make the UK less dependent on foreign energy in the future.
Telegraph 6th Mar 2009 more >>
New jobs will be created in low-carbon industries for 400,000 people – from lagging lofts to nuclear power – the government will announce today. In an interview with the Guardian, Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, said there was a global race towards creating a low-carbon economy and that Britain must not get left behind. He set out the key elements required – from energy efficiency to a smart electricity grid – ahead of today’s low-carbon summit in London, with representatives from industry, unions and the environment movement.
Guardian 6th Mar 2009 more >>
MoX Shipment
The largest shipment of deadly plutonium in history is about to leave the French port of Cherbourg – final destination Japan. We’ve taken action to send the message that this is yet another glaring example of the unacceptable risks posed by nuclear energy.
Greenpeace International 5th Mar 2009 more >>
Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, Green Action and Greenpeace Japan appealed to the Japanese Government to stop the world’s largest ever shipment of weapons-useable plutonium due to leave France for Japan on March 6, 2009. The shipment, due to depart from the port of Cherbourg on British-flagged vessels, contains approximately 1.7 metric tons of plutonium contained in 65 assemblies of MOX (mixed plutonium and uranium oxide) fuel. The fuel, made from plutonium separated from Japanese spent fuel, which was shipped to the French state-owned Areva NC for reprocessing, is destined for nuclear power plants of three Japanese electric utilities, Kyushu, Chubu, and Shikoku Electric Power Companies.
CNIC 5th Mar 2009 more >>
Mox fuel could it be used to manufacture a nuclear explosive? Greenpeace claims it would be enough for a group determined to make a bomb in a few weeks. The Areva NC, person in charge of the transport of Mox between France and Japan says the plutonium in question is not military quality and that its recovery would require an industrial process out of reach terrorists. Frank von Hippel, of Princeton University says Areva’s argument makes him smile. Admittedly, the atomic bombs designed by the States use 93% plutonium 239. But the plutonium 240 present in Mox, can also be used in an atomic bomb. Suppose terrorists seized the convoy, could they seize recover the plutonium? “ The dissolution of Mox in nitric acid is a standard process, answers Mr. von Hippel. One could do it in a cellar.
Le Monde 5th Mar 2009 more >>
Nuclear Waste
In January Marta Adams –the Chief Deputy Attorney General at the Nevada Attorney General’s Office spoke on Radio Cumbria urging Cumbria County Council not to rely on information from Government and the nuclear industry but to take independent advice on the implications of a nuclear dump in the Lake District. A powerful and vigorous 20 year campaign by Nevada state authorities has blocked progress on the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. A spokesperson from Radiation Free Lakeland said “this contrasts starkly with our Cumbrian Council Leaders who have willingly offered the Lake District up as a nuclear sacrifice zone despite geological ‘disposal’ being the worst possible option for looking after nuclear waste”
IndyMedia 5th March 2009 more >>
More than two decades after Yucca Mountain in Nevada was selected to be the national nuclear waste repository, the controversial proposal may finally be put to rest by the Obama administration. In keeping with a pledge President Obama made during the campaign, the budget released last week cuts off almost all funding for creating a permanent burial site for a large portion of the nation’s radioactive nuclear waste at the site in the Nevada desert.
Washington Post 4th Mar 2009 more >>
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday the proposed Yucca Mountain site in Nevada no longer is an option for storing highly radioactive nuclear waste, brushing aside criticism from several Republican lawmakers.
AP 5th Mar 2009 more >>
CUMBRIA County Council has named a new director responsible for roads, regeneration and nuclear power. Marie Fallon’s wide-ranging remit also puts her in charge of waste management, transport and planning.
West Cumberland Times and Star 5th Mar 2009 more >>
Hartlepool
Vincent de Rivaz, the chief executive of EDF Energy, said the future was bright and the people who worked for the firm in Hartlepool were “passionate and professional”.
Hartlepool Mail 5th Mar 2009 more >>
Italy
Italy looks set to revive its nuclear power industry following an agreement with France on the construction of new generating capacity.
Modern Power Systems 5th Mar 2009 more >>
Japan
The immediate future of the world’s biggest nuclear station was in doubt today after its eighth fire since it was closed almost two years ago by an earthquake.
Guardian 5th Mar 2009 more >>
A fire broke out at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s quake-hit nuclear power plant on Thursday despite repeated warnings about such incidents, and energy market sources were watching to see if its restart would be delayed.
Interactive Investor 5th Mar 2009 more >>
Submarines
THE Government’s lack of decision-making over the fate of redundant nuclear subs laid up at Rosyth Dockyard has been slammed as “pathetic” by MP Willie Rennie. The long-running saga over a storage site for the nuclear waste from the radioactive vessels shows no sign of being resolved, almost 26 years since the first one arrived.
Dunfermline Press 5th Mar 2009 more >>
