Nuclear Waste
West Cumbria is set to take another step towards having an underground nuclear waste repository. Cumbria County Council’s cabinet is likely to put forward Copeland as a potential site for a repository when it meets in Workington tomorrow.
Carlisle News and Star 8th Dec 2008 more >>
Scotland
New nuclear power plants should be considered for Scotland’s future energy needs, according to a report.The finding, which runs counter to the Scottish Government’s stated policy, came in an independent report on the government’s renewable energy targets. It found the target of 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 could be met, while still exporting power to England and Northern Ireland.
Hamilton Advertiser 9th Dec 2008 more >>
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Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser 9th Dec 2008 more >>
The report, conducted for the Scottish Council Development and Industry, found that to hit the 2020 targets would require a five-fold increase in the number of wind farms and highlighted the need for swifter investment.
BBC 9th Dec 2008 more >>
A new independent report has found SNP ministers’ target of generating half Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020 is achievable. But it will require a five-fold increase in the number of wind farms and nuclear power should still be considered longer term to provide the ‘base-load’ the national grid requires.
Telegraph 9th Dec 2008 more >>
A THREE-FOLD increase in the number of on-shore wind turbines will be needed over the next decade if Scotland is to meet its renewable targets, according to a major energy report. It predicts that by 2020, more than 2,000 new turbines will be required to meet the target of providing 50 per cent of electricity from clean, green, renewable sources. The study forecasts that the current 1.3GW output from working wind farms in Scotland will have to increase five-fold to 6.6GW.
Scotsman 9th Dec 2008 more >>
New Nukes
Construction union Unite warned against letting the French dominate the UK nuclear market. It wants a second design the AP1000 also to be used to create a more competitive market.
Contract Journal 8th Dec 2008 more >>
Nuclear Skills
Youngsters are being offered a crash course in nuclear engineering at HMS Sultan in 2009. Educational charity The Smallpeice Trust has launched its course timetable for next year, which includes nuclear marine engineering at the military base. Designed for children aged 13 to 14, the youngsters will work alongside professional engineers.
Portsmouth News 8th Dec 2008 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
21 years ago President Reagan and Mr Mikhail Gorbachev signed the historic agreement eliminating all ground-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles.
Times 9th Dec 2008 more >>
Today the Foreign Secretary commented on Global Zero, the international campaign for nuclear disarmament. He said: “In Paris today a new international campaign on nuclear disarmament is being launched. Global Zero will campaign for a world free of nuclear weapons. The UK already supports this aim, and the issue needs our urgent attention.
Foreign Office Press Release 8th Dec 2008 more >>
David Miliband: Today, we face new risks within a new nuclear context. Nuclear power is one of the energy sources more countries are likely to turn to in order to reduce carbon emissions while meeting rising energy demand. As a result, the technologies and materials for making nuclear weapons may become more widely dispersed, potentially raising the dangers of them falling into the wrong hands.
Guardian 8th Dec 2008 more >>
South Asia
The world may have come the closest it has been to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis thanks to a hoax telephone call made at the height of the Mumbai attacks.
Daily Mail 8th Dec 2008 more >>
Climate
The cream of the UK climate science community sat in stunned silence as Anderson pointed out that carbon emissions since 2000 have risen much faster than anyone thought possible, driven mainly by the coal-fuelled economic boom in the developing world. So much extra pollution is being pumped out, he said, that most of the climate targets debated by politicians and campaigners are fanciful at best, and “dangerously misguided” at worst. The fuzzy science says the world would face a catastrophic 4C average rise. And even that bleak future, Anderson said, could only be achieved if rich countries adopted “draconian emission reductions within a decade”. Only an unprecedented “planned economic recession” might be enough. The current financial woes would not come close.
Guardian 9th Dec 2008 more >>
One of the most controversial areas of climate science is how high the seas are likely to rise in a warmer world. Last year, a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that sea levels would rise by 15-59cm this century, an average of 38.5cm. Climate sceptics jumped on the figures as proof that the panel was downgrading the risk, as an IPCC report in 2001 had predicted 48.5cm.
Guardian 9th Dec 2008 more >>
Energy Efficiency
A Government scheme to combat fuel poverty has been called a failure after it emerged that more than 10,000 eligible low-income households will be unable to benefit this winter – because they are too poor. Government statistics seen by The Times show that 11,020 qualifying households that applied for its Warm Front scheme this year have pulled out because they cannot afford their share of the costs involved in home heating and insulation upgrades.
Times 9th Dec 2008 more >>
