New Nukes
A growing number of people are warming to nuclear power and more people now favour it rather than oppose it, according to a new YouGov survey for EDF Energy, the French nuclear power operator. The survey, to be published tomorrow, shows that 53 per cent of the 4,449 people who took part in the online poll are now in favour of nuclear power stations to replace old ones. This compares with 46 per cent last year, and 41 per cent the previous year. At the same time 62 per cent agree that nuclear is needed as part of a balanced energy source for the UK compared with 59 per cent last year, and 54 per cent in 2006.
Independent on Sunday 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb.
Observer 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Nuclear Waste
Letter from Rachel Western: While Dr Tim Stone, as the chair of KPMG’s global infrastructure and project group, advises the Government on nuclear issues, I have been nuclear advisor to Friends of the Earth and also to the nuclear industry waste management body Nirex (“There was a time when you couldn’t talk about nuclear power at dinner parties”, Business, 2 November). It is perfectly true that exposing uranium to neutrons in a nuclear reactor does not result in large amounts of greenhouse gases. But it does, instead, produce the nuclear weapons material plutonium, together with other fiercely radioactive wastes. We do not know what to do with these radioactive materials – and the financial implications of this could be extraordinarily significant. Dr Stone should swot up on the chemistry of nuclear waste management before he provides his next briefing for Government – so that this government does not encumber Britain with a truly “toxic debt”.
Independent on Sunday 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Copeland Council is urging all partners to work with them in discussions with the Government over the management of nuclear waste. Copeland’s plea, comes as Cumbria County Council’s cabinet said that it was minded to ‘express an interest’ in the Government process to find a location for a deep geological repository for nuclear waste, for the Copeland area. A decision will be taken at a Cumbria County Council cabinet meeting in December, following discussions at the authority’s full council meeting this month.
Carlisle News and Star 8th Nov 2008 more >>
Companies
EDF could be forced to sell several UK power stations to get approval from the European Commission for its £12 billion takeover of British Energy (BE). This is one of several proposals that will be put to Brussels by Philip Cox, chief executive of International Power, a rival generator. He said the forced sales are necessary to maintain sufficient competition in the wholesale electricity market if EDF’s purchase of Britain’s sole nuclear operator goes through. A combined EDF-BE would produce almost a quarter of the country’s electricity. Cox said it “will mean more price volatility, a lack of liquidity, and lack of transparency on pricing. We’ll be proposing the EC forces a mix of gas and coal-fired plant divestments.”
Sunday Times 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Test Veterans
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been accused of “a cover-up of a cock-up” in the wake of new evidence that it failed to investigate genetic damage amongst the veterans of Britain’s nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s. Confidential correspondence from 1984 reveals that the Medical Research Council (MRC) discovered DNA defects in a test veteran characteristic of radiation damage. But the council was never asked to look for similar problems in other veterans.
Sunday Herald 9th Nov 2008 more >>
robedwards.com 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Germany
Almost 15,000 anti-nuclear demonstrators protested Saturday against a shipment of reprocessed nuclear waste being transported to a storage site in northern Germany, police said.
Gadsden Times 8th Nov 2008 more >>
Iran
Will Iran acquire a nuclear bomb while Obama is President? We are nearing that moment where Iran either develops nuclear capability, or where the question of military action is contemplated,” warned one diplomat in Tehran.
Telegraph 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Iran’s head of parliament on Saturday criticised U.S. President-elect Barack Obama for saying its development of a nuclear weapon would be “unacceptable” and repeated the Islamic state’s call for fundamental policy change.
Reuters 8th Nov 2008 more >>
North Korea
North Korea has slowed disablement work at its key nuclear reactor to a snail’s pace, complaining of a delay in delivery of energy aid it is supposed to receive, Japan’s Kyodo news agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying.
Reuters 8th Nov 2008 more >>
Nuclear Submarines
An accident aboard a Russian nuclear-powered submarine making a test run in the Sea of Japan killed at least 20 people, officials said Sunday.The accident occurred when a fire-extinguishing system went into operation in error aboard the submarine, Dygalo and other officials said. The system is designed to release Freon coolant when activated, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency, which cited an official with Russia’s top investigative agency.
CNN 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Observer 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Independent on Sunday 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Sunday Times 9th Nov 2008 more >>
Fuel Poverty
Government funding for fuel poverty measures will fall by almost a fifth next year. Gordon Brown said in September that he would spend an extra £74m over the next three years on providing insulation and proper central heating to millions of vulnerable people. But he did not reveal that the bulk of this extra cash was being spent this winter, leaving little for the next financial year and no more for the third year.
Observer 9th Nov 2008 more >>
