Sellafield MoX Plant
Letter from Stephen Tindale: It’s no surprise that the Sellafield MOx plant is an enormous waste of money, but congratulations to The Independent for highlighting the full amount (“A £1bn nuclear white elephant”, 7 April). Reprocessing and then shipping the product, in the form of MOx, round the world is also an enormous proliferation risk, as Jean McSorley correctly says. But the issues of nuclear generation and reprocessing need to be separated. It is possible – and in my view essential – to generate electricity in nuclear power stations, but then store the spent fuel, not reprocess it. It is fair to acknowledge that this has always been the position of some people, such as John Gummer.
Independent 8th Apr 2009 more >>
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has admitted that the future of the Mox plant is under review. Opposition MPs are calling for its immediate closure and a public inquiry into the process that gave it the green light in the first place.
Building 7th Apr 2009 more >>
Green New Deal
Gordon Brown has promised an environmentally friendly Budget later this month to kick start a “green recovery” – including the mass introduction of electric cars on Britain’s roads. Mr Darling will also set a target of creating 400,000 jobs in “green industries” over the next five years. Other green measures to be outlined by the Government shortly include relaxing planning rules to allow the building of more wind farms to ensure Britain hits its target to generate 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. “Smart meters” will eventually be installed in every home so people can see how much energy they use. Ministers also want to develop a “clean coal” industry by approving an experiment with carbon capture and storage.
Independent 8th Apr 2009 more >>
Telegraph 8th Apr 2009 more >>
Proliferation
Rarely has a Presidential speech been so immediately and transparently divorced from reality as Mr. Obama’s in Prague. The President delivered a stirring call to banish nuclear weapons at the very moment that North Korea and Iran are bidding to trigger the greatest proliferation breakout in the nuclear age. Mr. Obama also proposed an elaborate new arms-control regime to reduce nuclear weapons, even as both Pyongyang and Tehran are proving that the world’s great powers lack the will to enforce current arms-control treaties. Mr. Obama recognized this rogue proliferation threat in his Prague address, but to counter it he offered only more treaties of the kind that are already ignored. OK, not merely more treaties. Two days earlier in Strasbourg he also vouchsafed the power of his own moral example. In the Middle East, a Shiite bomb will send the region’s Arab nations scurrying to Pakistan to get a Sunni weapon. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, and perhaps even Iraq will be in the market for a deterrent. The Turks — long a power in the region but wondering if NATO membership is enough protection — will also seek to join the nuclear club. Meanwhile, Japan will increasingly wonder if Americans would really risk an attack on themselves in order to protect Tokyo. The nightmare imagined by strategists at the dawn of the atomic age in the 1950s, with every major nation getting the bomb, will be that much closer.
Wall Street Journal 7th Apr 2009 more >>
US
A state law forbids new atomic power plants from being constructed in Minnesota, and some allege that means atomic cannot even be a component of a discourse about the state’s future energy requirements. An attempt to alter that suffered a blow this week, when members of a House energy commission shot down a bill that would annul the prohibition.
Energy Business Daily 7th Apr 2009 more >>
The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) have more in common than being major industry lobby groups. Both have hired former Greenpeace activist turned PR consultant Patrick Moore to deflect environmental and public health criticisms.
PR Watch 31st Mar 2009 more >>
US energy secretary Steven Chu has announced $6 Billion (£4 billion) package to clean up former Cold War nuclear weapon facilities. The money, part of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion (£534 billion) stimulus package – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – is aimed at accelerating the environmental cleanup work and creating thousands of jobs across 12 states.
Edie 7th Apr 2009 more >>
Iran
For an 89-year old prosecutor enforcing local laws in a limited jurisdiction, Robert Morgenthau showed his global reach yesterday by cracking down on a Chinese network that allegedly helps supply Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes. Mr Morgenthau has been Manhattan’s district attorney for almost 35 years, a position that he has used to track down malfeasance around the globe. His jurisdiction has extended well beyond the 13 miles of Manhattan due to its place at the centre of the world’s financial system.
FT 8th Apr 2009 more >>
New York prosecutors joined the Obama administration yesterday in shutting down a China-based network that allegedly supplied Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes with the unwitting aid of some of Wall Street’s biggest banks. The move comes as Washington seeks to slow down Tehran’s progress towards nuclear arms capability, and President Barack Obama tries to win time for possible negotiations with Iran. It may also prove a test of the administration’s relationship with Beijing, which has so far been unenthusiastic about sanctions on Tehran.
FT 8th Apr 2009 more >>
A Chinese businessman and his company have been charged with illegally using New York banks to help Iran buy materials to make nuclear weapons, Manhattan’s chief prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Telegraph 8th Apr 2009 more >>
Iran has dramatically stepped up covert attempts to buy nuclear equipment over the last six months, often by using Chinese companies as fronts, according to a senior German industrialist. Ralf Wirtz, whose company, Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum, makes pumps that can be used in uranium enrichment centrifuges, said that more than five years after the AQ Khan nuclear smuggling network was exposed by US and British intelligence the black market trade was on the rise again.
Guardian 8th Apr 2009 more >>
A year after becoming president in 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that the 20th day in the Persian month of Farvardin would officially be known as National Nuclear Technology day. On this day, which falls on Thursday 9 April this year, the government and people of Iran are to celebrate their country’s nuclear achievements. In all likelihood, Ahmadinejad is going to make the most of this year’s nuclear technology day ceremony to boost his falling popularity at home. Unlike the economy, the nuclear programme is one area which Ahmadinejad has not ruined. Many people believe that the only reason is because he is not in charge of it.
Guardian 8th Apr 2009 more >>
The five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council plus Germany will meet Wednesday to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. The US State Department said on Tuesday that the six — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — would each send a senior foreign ministry diplomat to the meeting, which will take place in London.
Middle East Online 8th Apr 2009 more >>
North Korea
A striking satellite image released yesterday shows the moment North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday in defiance of international pressure.
Guardian 8th Apr 2009 more >>
Renewables
The European Investment Bank is in talks with developers about a financial rescue package for the £3bn London Array wind farm on the Thames Estuary.
Telegraph 8th Apr 2009 more >>
Times 8th Apr 2009 more >>
