Nuclear Sites
NDA today announces the start of the disposal process for land adjacent to the nuclear site at Sellafield in Cumbria.
NDA 8th June 2009 more >>
World Nuclear News 8th June 2009 more >>
Utility Week 8th June 2009 more >>
Sellafield, Europe’s most heavily contaminated industrial site, went under the hammer yesterday. Iberdrola, the Spanish energy giant that owns ScottishPower, is expected to be among the bidders for a 250-hectare parcel of land adjoining the main site in West Cumbria where Britain mastered the technology to build the atomic bomb in the 1950s and later built the world’s first commercial nuclear power plant. John Clarke, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s commercial director, said that the plot – which is expected to raise at least £100 million for the Treasury – had “outstanding potential” as a site for development of a new reactor, likely to cost at least £4 billion to build.
Times 9th June 2009 more >>
Low Level Waste
A new nuclear recycling plant in Workington has been awarded a top health and safety award. Studsvik, on the Lillyhall Industrial Estate, has been given the RoSPA occupational health and safety award for the engineering construction industry sector in 2009. The plant, which was granted the UK’s first nuclear site licence for over 20 years, proved its commitment to safety was at the heart of its core values. It also demonstrated strong leadership and initiatives to encourage employee involvement.
Cumberland News 8th June 2009 more >>
A pressure group has appealed to the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate not to grant final consent to Studsvik UK for their Lillyhall site in Cumbria. The NII will be requested to give final consent for the receipt of contaminated metals on to the Lillyhall site – the first of its kind in Europe. Radiation Free Lakeland said consent would be detrimental to Cumbria.
Teletext 8th June 2009 more >>
A consultation has been launched on a new strategy for the management of the UK’s solid low-level radioactive waste. The strategy seeks to prevent, reduce, reuse and recycling as much material as possible.
World Nuclear News 8th June 2009 more >>
Scotland
Scottish Power is set to launch public consultation on a gas-fired replacement for the Cockenzie power station, near Edinburgh, ahead of an expected planning application to the Scottish Government later this year. The move has angered environmental campaigners, who concede that it would be less polluting than the present coal-fired station but say the project would still bring significant carbon emissions.
PlanningResource 8th June 2009 more >>
Letter: Scottish Power’s trumpeting of its small-scale test of carbon capture and storage (CCS) at Longannet (your report, 30 May) is just the latest example of it trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the Scottish public. The company and all the main political parties have championed this unproven technology as a silver bullet which will solve the twin concerns of energy supply and carbon emissions in one fell swoop. What Scottish Power won’t reveal is that it has no intention of applying CCS (if it can be proven to work) across all of Longannet’s four boilers. Three-quarters of the plant will continue to burn coal unabated when the need to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions is almost universally accepted.
Scotsman 9th June 2009 more >>
North Korea
The sentencing of Laura Lee and Euna Ling, two young American journalists, to 12 years of hard labour in North Korea has greatly complicated the Obama administration’s attempts to pressure Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear weapons.
BBC 8th June 2009 more >>
FT 9th June 2009 more >>
Iran
Iran’s main nuclear plant is expanding so rapidly that United Nations inspectors have asked Tehran for improved safeguards against the production of weapons-grade uranium.
Telegraph 8th June 2009 more >>
Spain
Spain’s nuclear watchdog said on Monday the ageing Garona nuclear power station was safe enough to run for another 10 years, leaving a final decision to a government that has vowed to phase out nuclear power. The Nuclear Safety Council’s (CSN) recommendation is non-binding and the government has until July 5 to decide on whether the 500 megawatt plant will stay open.
Interactive Investor 8th June 2009 more >>
World Nuclear News 8th June 2009 more >>
Guardian 8th June 2009 more >>
Key Facts about Garona
Yahoo 8th June 2009 more >>
Test Veterans
More than 1,000 British soldiers claim they – and their children – were left with cancer and deformities after severe radiation exposure in the Pacific over half a century ago. And evidence given by Johnstone man Ken McGinley during the historic case at the High Court in London helped clinch the result he has been chasing for years on behalf of 16 Renfrewshire soldiers and their dependants.
Paisley Daily Express 6th June 2009 more >>
Renewables
Scotland’s largest local authority is vying to become the UK’s first council to own and operate a wind farm, potentially allowing it to sell electricity. The scheme would see Glasgow City Council initially set up one turbine on high ground on the city’s southern boundaries, rising to five if it proves successful. According to the council, a five-turbine wind farm could generate more than 40m, a proportion of which would go to local communities.
Herald 8th June 2009 more >>
THE huge economic potential of a renewables powerhouse off the north of Scotland has been underlined with news that 42 applications have been made to develop wave and tidal energy projects. The Crown Estate yesterday revealed it has received plans from 20 bidders for energy leases in the Pentland Firth, between Caithness and Orkney. These range from 10MW demonstration sites to 200-300MW commercial projects and come from small developers to multinational companies.
Scotsman 9th June 2009 more >>
Media
Geoffrey Lean, the Independent on Sunday’s environment editor, is to leave the paper after 16 years to join the Daily Telegraph. Lean will join the Telegraph as consulting editor, environment, and be responsible for a weekly column in the Saturday Telegraph, features and a blog. He said he was joining the Telegraph because he had become been persauded by the paper’s environmental credentials.
Guardian 8th June 2009 more >>
