Fife Contamination
SCOTLAND’S green watchdog played down the risks of radioactive contamination at a popular coastal resort in Fife following an 11th-hour intervention by government spin doctors. Internal emails reveal the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) delayed and then altered a news release after it had been described as “not entirely helpful” by a senior Scottish Executive public relations official.
Sunday Herald 8th Oct 2006
RobEdwards.com
Trident
Trident nuclear submarines docked at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde have suffered a rash of safety incidents, according to an internal Ministry of Defence report. Three of the four submarines that carry Britain’s nuclear warheads suffered 22 “nuclear safety events” between June 2005 and May 2006. They included failures in radiation protection, mechanical defects
and “berthing in extreme weather conditions”.
Sunday Herald 8th Oct 2006
Rob Edwards.Com 8th Oct 2006
Renewables
Every major development in Edinburgh will have to supply at least 10% of its power from wind, solar or other renewable energy sources under a plan agreed by the city council.
Rob Edwards.com 8th Oct 2006
Westinghouse
Toshiba has said it will now pay £2.2bn ($4.16bn) for a 77% stake in the Westinghouse nuclear reactor manufacturer which operates the Springfields Fuels Ltd site in Salwick, near Preston.
Lancashire Evening Post 7th Oct 2006
North Korea
As international tensions over North Korea have soared, China has deployed extra combat units of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to man the border from the Yalu River in the south to the Tumen River near Russia – evidently fearing the risk of chaos and collapse.
Today is the 9th Anniversary of Kim Jong-il as North Korean leader. We think that the best way to celebrate nine years as the leader of a non-nuclear nation is to try and stretch that to ten: the world needs fewer nuclear powers, not more.
Greenpeace International 7th Oct 2006
The nuclear weapon that North Korea intends to detonate in an underground test is big enough to kill up to 200,000 people were it ever to be used against a city such as Seoul or Tokyo, Russian military experts have revealed.
Sunday Telegraph 8th Oct 2006
Two years ago, North Korea, which has invested more in its nuclear weapons programme than on improving its farming, announced that it had recovered from the famine that claimed up to three million lives in the 1990s, and no longer needed outside food assistance. But now the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is once again warning of serious shortfalls in the country’s food supply this year.
Sunday Telegraph 8th Oct 2006
In the wake of North Korea’s threat last week to hold nuclear tests, Japan’s new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is meeting China (today) and South Korea (tomorrow) to ask them to join the UN in demanding that Pyongyang abort its plans. Some fear that the tests could be scheduled for today’s anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s appointment as head of the Korean Workers’ Party in 1997.
Sunday Telegraph 8th Oct 2006
Iran
Not everybody is convinced that oil prices have been tamed. A revival of tension over Iran’s nuclear programme and a harsh winter in the northern hemisphere could push prices back up sharply.
Sunday Times 8th Oct 2006
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has ordered nuclear facilities to be opened to foreign tourists, to prove that the nation’s disputed atomic programme is peaceful. Must-sees on the half-life tour include the uranium-conversion facility outside Isfahan, the enrichment plant in Natanz and the nuclear plant being built in the southern city of Bushehr, all with ample parking and cafeterias.
Sunday Times 8th Oct 2006
