Nuclear Waste
Councils will be asked to store nuclear waste in deep underground vaults in return for government investment in jobs, road improvements and health screening, under plans to be announced this week. Copeland council in Cumbria confirmed it was planning to put its name forward, a move seen as inevitable because most of the temporary waste is stored at the Sellafield reprocessing plant and the industry accounts for more than half of jobs in the area.
Observer 8th June 2008 more >>
British Energy
The board of nuclear generator British Energy is expected to recommend a £10bn takeover bid by French giant EDF within a fortnight. An announcement could be made as early as this week. The remaining rival bidders – German group RWE and Spanish utility Iberdrola, which owns Scottish Power – have not formally withdrawn from the auction. But banking sources said this weekend that it was unlikely that either would now table a firm offer for British Energy, the UK’s largest power generator.
Observer 8th June 2008 more >>
Telegraph 8th June 2008 more >>
French state-owned energy giant EDF should get the green light to take over the country’s leading nuclear energy producer within a fortnight, a newspaper said Sunday. An announcement could be made as early as this week, said The Observer weekly, saying the board of British Energy was expected to recommend the takeover once EDF, the world’s biggest nuclear energy producer, tables its bid. Rival bidders RWE from Germany and Spain’s Iberdrola have not yet formally given up on grabbing British Energy. Banking scources told The Observer that it was now “unlikely” that either would table a bid for the firm, in which the British government has a 35.2-percent stake.
AFP 8th June 2008 more >>
New Nukes
Britain’s nuclear regulator is in talks with its US and French counterparts to speed up the licensing of a new generation of reactor designs to meet the Government’s strict build timetable. The move follows concerns that the Government could miss out on its ambition to have the next nuclear power stations operational by the end of the next decade. In a conference for potential nuclear investors on Thursday, Business Secretary John Hutton is expected to calm these worries by confirming that the nuclear programme is on schedule. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) has until 2011 to grant licenses to a three-strong shortlist of bidders – Areva, GE Energy-Hitachi and Westinghouse – which want to design the reactors. Bidders have complained that the timetable could prove tight. A similar process is underway in the US and France, which have already made their own assessments on the reactor designs. The NII has held talks about sharing information so that it does not replicate the work.
Independent on Sunday 8th June 2008 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
Campaigners attack huge amounts spent on hidden world of nuclear weapons. MAINTAINING AND developing the Trident nuclear warheads stationed on the Clyde is going to cost the British taxpayer a massive 18.5 billion over 13 years, according to the first official breakdown of defence nuclear spending. New figures released by the UK government after pressure from MPs reveal that £12.7bn of public money has been spent on nuclear weapons over the last 10 years. A further £5.8bn is planned to be spent over the next three years.
Sunday Herald 8th June 2008 more >>
