Radwaste
Silloth is one of the finest examples of a Victorian seaside resort in the North of England. Tourism is a major economic player, with dozens of large and small caravan parks located within 10 miles of the town centre. The towns largest annual event is the award winning Solfest music festival. Small wonder then that Silloth says NO to the government plan for a nuclear dump under this land
Radiation Free Lakeland 6th Sept 2012 more >>
SOME Cumbria county councillors fear the county will be forced into hosting a nuclear-waste repository, unless it rules itself out of the running now. The Government believes burial is the best way to deal with medium and high-level waste. It has invited local authorities to volunteer to host an underground repository. In return, they would get unspecified benefits that might include investment in transport, schools and hospitals. Cumbria, Allerdale and Copeland councils all expressed an interest and set up the managing radioactive waste safely partnership to investigate the idea. It says there is majority public support in west Cumbria but there are doubts if the geology is suitable. All three councils decide on October 11 if they want to go to the next stage, which involves a geological study. But sharp divisions emerged when county councillors debated the issueyesterday. Cockermouth East Conservative Eric Nicholson said: I urge the cabinet to withdraw as soon as possible. You have no clear mandate from the people of Cumbria.
Carlisle News & Star 6th Sept 2012 more >>
A SEARCH to find a safe site to bury highly radioactive nuclear waste in West Cumbria should be delayed until a lot more is known about the areas geology, a group has said this week. The Cumbria Association of Local Councils (CALC) is sticking to its stance after a meeting on Monday night. Most of its parish and town council members reaffirmed their view that any investigation to find a suitable repository location should be put on hold until vital information gaps have been filled. CALC hopes its views will influence Cumbria County Council and Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils before they make the big decision at separate meetings in public on October 11. The county council was yesterday meeting to debate the issue and Copeland Council is due to discuss it on September 26. After this weeks CALC meeting, chairman Keith Hitchen said: We are not saying yes, we are not saying no we just think a decision about participation should not be taken at the present time. We see three major gaps in the information available to the councils, most notably with respect to geology.
Whitehaven News 6th Sept 2012 more >>
The most important meeting EVER of all 84 members of Cumbria County Council took place yesterday without fanfare. Radiation Free Lakeland (all ordinary people) unfurled a banner and staged a demo before the meeting they werent joined by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, lovers of Lakeland: Melvyn Brag, Lord Clark and Eric Robson or any other Cumbrian heritage, tourism, environment, countryside, wildlife, food and farming representatives all of whom would be blighted should this juggernaught reach its final destination at the worlds largest nuclear dump. Objectors were allowed to speak for 2 minutes to ask a question the time strictly applied with two of us being cut short. Then we left the room (some councillors clapped) to go to the public gallery. The Chair announced that Rhuari Bennett of 3QK (employed by the MRWS Partnership to facilitate) was going to talk through the MRWS process in a quick 25 minute presentation. The lights went down the big screen went up and the councillors were treated to more MRWS propaganda about long timescales, the right of withdrawal and the much publicised most Cumbrians are in support Ipsos Mori poll. The ppt presentation broke down 3 times , the presentation went on for 33 minutes without interruption from the Chair.The propaganda was then followed by the debate. Councillors expressed anger at not being able to vote -overwhelming majority of those who spoke opposed the plan.
Radiation Free Lakeland 6th Sept 2012 more >>
Magnox
Balfour Beatty and Costain have won a £304 million contract covering construction, infrastructure and maintenance projects across all of the Magnox nuclear sites. Magnox is responsible for electricity generation at Wylfa, Oldbury and Maentwrog, defuelling at Chapelcross, Dungeness A and Sizewell A, and the decommissioning of Hunterston A, Berkeley, Hinkley Point A, Bradwell and Trawsfynydd. It handles this work for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Utility Week 6th Sept 2012 more >>
Building 6th Sept 2012 more >>
Sellafield
Letter: Why then, as both Thorps and MOXs operational and financial failures to the tune of millions have been publicly admitted, is he moaning when Thorp has already had an extension of eight years? With the 600 MOX workers already being absorbed into the Sellafield workforce (at taxpayers expense) I am sure that the 800 of the Thorp workforce (yes 800, not his thousands) will similarly be absorbed (at taxpayers expense) in 2018. In a May 2009 in an article on www.bellona.org on Thorps evaporators, Charles Digges reported on the emergency shutdown of Evaporator B saying that a new evaporator, at a cost of £100 million, is under construction, but unlikely to come online before 2013. An I-Nuclear article in February 2012 entitled Sellafields Evaporator D to come in at well below £1 billion following 2009 redesign says: However, the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority says that improvements at the existing Evaporator C mean that the new evaporator, Evaporator D, is no longer critical to the continued operation of the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp). Evaporator D, they say, will be used as well for post-closure clean-up operations. Thorp is currently scheduled to close in 2018 upon completion of its existing contracts for reprocessing, but Evaporator D isnt scheduled for active commissioning until December 2015, according to the latest information available to the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation. That date is now considered unlikely to be met meaning the multi-million pound Evaporator D could serve Thorp for substantially less than three years.
Whitehaven News 6th Sept 2012 more >>
Hinkley
Environment Agency chiefs want the public to air their views on how a Westcountry nuclear power station should operate. The Agency has begun a public consultation on its draft decisions for three environmental permits for Hinkley Point in Somerset. Each permit is a key regulatory permission that is required to operate the power station. Agency bosses will decide whether the permits should be issued and, if so, what their conditions should be.
Western Morning News 6th Sept 2012 more >>
Wylfa
Businesses based on Anglesey will have the opportunity to meet with nuclear industry regulators to discuss the future of Wylfa power station. The group tasked with the power station’s decommissioning will debate plans for the future of the land and surrounding area There are also plans to build a new plant at Wylfa. Keith Parker, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, which is holding the event, told BBC Radio Wales’ Peter Johnson that opportunities for business leaders would be discussed.
BBC 6th Sept 2012 more >>
Politics
The Labour leadership has attacked the coalition for failing to provide adequate support and stability to green businesses, arguing that the green growth opportunity is being squandered due to government in-fighting. Miliband stressed plans to stimulate the economy through infrastructure projects should focus on green development. “We’ve got to go down the low-carbon route, and you have to prioritise the low-carbon route,” he said. He was joined by Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, who attacked Osborne for failing to support green growth and damaging low-carbon businesses by constantly changing policies, citing the example of the government’s mishandling of cuts to solar incentives last year.Greenpeace’s John Sauven urged the Chancellor to “stop holding back Britain’s low-carbon businesses. Everybody from the CBI to the Labour leadership to green groups are now urging him to back these growing industries,” he said. “This sector provided around a third of all growth in the economy over the past year, and Ed Miliband is right to highlight how it should be central to our economic recovery.” The speech came on the same day as Tory MP Laura Sandys, writing for BusinessGreen, also reiterated that modernisers within the Conservative Party remain committed to delivering on a green growth agenda.
Business Green 6th Sept 2012 more >>
Guardian 6th Sept 2012 more >>
Japan
The head of the Japanese utility that owns the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant said last year’s meltdowns sapped away money it might have used to switch to alternative energy, making it all the more important for the company to stick with nuclear.
Express 7th Sept 2012 more >>
US
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) directed its staff on Thursday to start an environmental review into the temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel, following a court ruling that led the agency to stop issuing new reactor licenses.
Reuters 6th Sept 2012 more >>
Iran
There is one sure way to persuade Iran to press on with its programme to build the bomb. Thats for Israel to go ahead and bomb Iran. Whatever ones views about the toppling of Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush and Tony Blair made a grievous mistake when they invaded Iraq. They did not properly consider what would happen next. The risk is the US will repeat the error by backing Israeli strikes against Iran.
FT 6th Sept 2012 more >>
