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European Ministers argue over nuclear power safety tests

VIDEO MEPs split over nuclear ‘stress tests’ BBC News 9 June 11MEPs have clashed over plans for “stress tests”, which are due to be carried out on nuclear facilities in the EU.There were angry scenes during the Commission statement on 9 June 2011, which caused Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger to appeal for calm.

Mr Oettinger was outlining plans for the tests – ordered in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster – which are designed to see how Europe’s nuclear facilities are able to withstand natural or man-made disasters.

The so-called stress tests will be performed on Europe’s 143 working reactors and other atomic installations and will consider a range of factors, including seismic activity, flooding, and power loss at reactors.

But German Green MEP Rebecca Harms dismissed the plans as a “paper check” designed to “downplay the risks of nuclear power”.Ms Harms attacked the voluntary nature of the tests, saying it left the checks “largely in the hands of operators”……http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/europe/newsid_9503000/9503899.stm

 

June 10, 2011 Posted by | EUROPE, safety | Leave a comment

Merkel calls on lawmakers to back moves to end nuclear energy

Merkel Asks Lawmakers to Back Shift From Nuclear NYT, By  June 9, 2011 BERLIN — Calling Germany’s plan to phase outnuclear energy by 2022 a “Herculean task,” Chancellor Angela Merkel told lawmakers on Thursday that the country was poised to lead the world in renouncing nuclear energy. Continue reading →

June 10, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

UN reports on Syria’s nuclear program

U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Presses Case Against Syria, NYT, By  June 9, 2011 UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations nuclear watchdog voted Thursday to report Syria to the Security Council, citing Syria’s construction of a covert nuclear reactor and its failure to cooperate with investigators, diplomats said……Citing a lack of confidence that Syria’s nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and pointing to a history of concealment by Damascus, the I.A.E.A. resolution says that the destroyed Dair Alzour site was “very likely a nuclear reactor and should have been declared by Syria.”

The 15-member Security Council has the power to rebuke Syria by urging it to cooperate with the I.A.E.A. and imposing sanctions against the country, as it has done in the case ofIran’s nuclear program. But Russia and China, two veto-wielding members of the Security Council, voted against the resolution, underlining international divisions over how to approach Damascus and signaling that punitive measures against the Syrian government were unlikely.

Syria has said the Dair Alzour site was a non-nuclear facility and has denied having a secret nuclear program. It has urged the I.A.E.A. to focus on Israel and allegations about its own covert nuclear activities…..http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/world/middleeast/10nations.html

June 10, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Syria | Leave a comment

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