New Nukes
A Lancashire nuclear fuel firm could be frozen out of Britain’s nuclear renaissance by a pact between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy. Fylde MP Michael Jack fears the ‘pact’ sealed during the French supremo’s visit to London last week could see the design and production of fuel handed to firms across the English Channel, which would be a massive blow to Springfields Fuels, which employs 1,500 people at its factory in Salwick, near Preston.
Lancashire Evening Post 8th April 2008 more >>
British Energy
Shares in British Energy continued to climb yesterday as speculation mounted that France’s EDF and Germany’s RWE had approached Scottish Gas owner Centrica about a possible joint bid for the nuclear power operator. Livingston-based British Energy, which operates eight nuclear power stations, has seen its share price jump 30% during the past month amid hopes of a takeover approach.
Herald 8th April 2008 more >>
BRITISH Energy is on orange alert as far as a takeover bid is concerned. If, as expected, the Scottish nuclear generator is snapped up by a foreign bidder.
Scotsman 9th April 2008 more >>
Manchester Evening News 8th April 2008 more >>
The Government fired a warning shot to potential bidders for British Energy yesterday by saying it will not tolerate the emergence of a single monopoly player in Britain’s drive to build a new generation of nuclear reactors.
Times 9th April 2008 more >>
Iran
Iran tested a new machine with greater capacity on Tuesday as part of its nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. He did not specify the equipment but diplomats in Vienna last week said Iran was installing advanced enrichment centrifuges, accelerating activity that could give Tehran the means to make atom bombs in the future if it chose to.
Christian Today 9th April 2008 more >>
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is increasing his country’s nuclear potential by installing 6,000 additional centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment plant, in open defiance of the UN Security Council.
Independent 9th April 2008 more >>
Telegraph 9th April 2008 more >>
Times 8th April 2008 more >>
Guardian website 8th April 2008 more >>
FT 9th April 2008 more >>
A former nuclear negotiator has been given a two-year suspended sentence for damaging national security, according to reports from Iran. Hossein Mousavian was arrested in May last year and briefly detained in jail until he was released on bail.
BBC 8th April 2008 more >>
Pakistan
The Pakistani Government has imposed media restrictions on the detained nuclear scientist Dr AQ Khan.
Mathaba 9th April 2009 more >>
Residents were evacuated after a gas leak from a nuclear plant in eastern Punjab. A cylinder of hydrogen phosphate gas is reported to have exploded.
Mathaba 9th April 2008 more >>
A gas leak in Pakistan has killed two people at a heavy water plant run by the country’s atomic energy agency in Punjab province, officials say. They say that the leak at the Khushab heavy water plant happened when it was closed for annual maintenance.
BBC 8th April 2008 more >>
Times 9th April 2008 more >>
US
Westinghouse Electric Co. and the Shaw Group Inc. have signed a contract to provide Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power with two nuclear power plants, the companies said late Tuesday. The two AP1000 units will have an electric generating capacity of around 1,100 megawatts and would be constructed at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant site near Augusta, Ga.
AFX 8th April 2008 more >>
North Korea
Talks with North Korea’s top nuclear envoy on Tuesday made progress towards resuming stalled negotiations over the North’s nuclear programme, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said.
Reuters 8th April 2008 more >>
Decommissioning
UK specialist decommissioning, decontamination and demolition contractor EDS has appointed Steve Worrall to the position of nuclear decommissionin manager. He joins the company from British Nuclear Group, where he latterly was Head of Decommissioning for Chapelcross Powerstation in Dumfries, Scotland.
KHL Group 8th April 2008 more >>
Fuel Poverty
Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged are taking the government to court today for failing to meet its own legal obligation to eradicate fuel poverty. The two charities will be filing a judicial review at the high court this morning, and have called on the government to set out how it will meet its target to eliminate the growing problem, which blights about 4.5m homes. Two weeks ago the government’s advisers, the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG), said more than 2.3m of the most vulnerable households in England are forced to spend at least 10% of their income on heating and lighting. Peter Lehmann, the outgoing chairman of FPAG, warned then that the government would miss its target to eradicate fuel poverty for the most vulnerable households by 2010, and for all households by 2016.
Guardian 9th April 2008 more >>
