Micro-reactor developer optimistic about connecting South Wales project by 2027
08 Nov, 2024 By Tom Pashby
The CEO of a micro nuclear reactor developer aiming to build in Wales this
decade has told NCE he is confident that grid connection reforms will help
keep his company’s ambitious plans on schedule.
Last Energy is a developer of micro-reactors, which fall within the overall category of
small modular reactors (SMRs). The firm is hoping to build and commission
four 20MW reactors in South Wales by 2027.
Details of its Prosiect Egni Glan Llynfi project in Bridgend County were released last month and raised eyebrows. Last Energy calls it, in English, the Llynfi Clean Energy Project
and is proposed on the site of the former coal-fired Llynfi Power Station
which was in operation from 1951 to 1977.
The SMR designs in Great British
Nuclear’s competition are subject to a generic design assessment (GDA) by
regulators of the UK nuclear sector. This allows the regulators to assess
the safety, security, safeguards and environmental aspects of new reactor
designs before site-specific proposals are brought forward.
Jenner said Last Energy is not going through the generic design assessment approach. He
said the ONR “stated that that’s not absolutely essential”. “It’s
one route you can take. We are going straight to the site licensing
route,” he said. “We are linking our project and our design straight to
our project in this case, is Llynfi in South Wales, so you go through the
same rigor, but it’s linked to a site.
” Even with all the benefits for
rapid deployment, the 2027 commission date seems ambitious. Jenner said
Last Energy had not commenced any works at the site yet. “When we expect
to is something that we are still working through the timeline on in our
discussions with the ONR (Office for Nuclear Regulation),” he said.
New Civil Engineer 8th Nov 2024,
https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/interview-micro-reactor-developer-optimistic-about-connecting-south-wales-project-by-2027-08-11-2024/
Minimal role for nuclear in UK government agency’s Clean Energy plan
NFLA 6th Nov 2024 https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/minimal-role-for-nuclear-in-government-agencys-clean-energy-plan/
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities have noted that a report from Labour’s new National Energy System Operator (NESO) just out identifies a miniscule contribution from nuclear in Britain’s future clean energy mix.
Clean Power 2030 highlights the priorities for the new agency and two primary pathways – one with and one without a flexible contribution from biomass, hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage – to achieve a clean power network by the end of this decade.
In a network generating 143 gigawatts (GW) through a mix of renewable technologies, nuclear is only earmarked to provide a supplement of 4.1 GW.
The report calls for a tripling in offshore wind generation from 15 to 43 – 50 GW, a doubling in onshore wind from 14 to 27 GW, and a tripling of solar panel generation from 15 to 47 GW.
NESO also emphasises the need to dramatically increase battery storage capacity from 5 GW to over 22 GW, to increase long-duration storage capacity from 3 to 8 GW, and to invest significant sums to quickly roll out the necessary enhanced transmission system to support the transition of heat, industry and transport to electrification[i].
The derisory contribution from nuclear is clearly a sop to the nuclear industry and unions, and a means to retain the necessary transferable knowledge to maintain Britain’s nuclear arsenal.
It is calculated by assuming that one reactor at Hinkley Point C will come on-line by 2030 and that an existing Advanced Gas Cooled reactor plant and Sizewell B remain in operation[ii].
Generation from Hinkley’s second reactor will come sometime beyond that date, and any deployment of Small Modular Reactors and development of Sizewell C remains uncertain.
Commenting NFLA Chair Councillor Lawrence O’Neill said: “NESO recognises that a clean power future means our reliance upon electricity generated by renewables. Renewable generation can be delivered quicker and cheaper, without risk or radioactive contamination, deliver many new jobs, and provide this nation and its people with homegrown energy security.
“Not so long ago there was much talk of the need for nuclear power as a baseload, but in this report, this myth is destroyed as the contribution of nuclear power is identified as marginal. Its inclusion in the mix is clearly them a sop to the nuclear industry and unions, and a means to retain the necessary transferable knowledge to maintain Britain’s nuclear arsenal.
“Nuclear and clean power should not be seen in the same room for how can nuclear be clean when the National Audit Office has recently identified that to ‘clean up’ the radioactive legacy at Sellafield could cost taxpayers up to £253 billion in a mission lasting a further 100 years?”
“Nuclear and clean power should not be seen in the same room for how can nuclear be clean when the National Audit Office has recently identified that to ‘clean up’ the radioactive legacy at Sellafield could cost taxpayers up to £253 billion in a mission lasting a further 100 years?”
.For more information contact NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
[i] Page 18, https://www.neso.energy/document/346651/download
[ii] Page 28, Ibid
Foreign Policy: NATO knows Ukraine is losing

Thu, 07 Nov 2024, https://www.sott.net/article/495948-Foreign-Policy-NATO-knows-Ukraine-is-losing
NATO is fully aware that Ukraine is slowly losing its conflict with Russia, with an especially difficult winter predicted to worsen the situation, Foreign Policy has reported.
Western officials are warning that a victory for Moscow,would solidify its influence in Europe and lead to a strengthened military presence near NATO’s borders, the influential US publication has claimed, in an article published on Wednesday.
Foreign Policy’s sources believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking advantage of uncertainty in Washington. Michael Bociurkiw – a lobbyist at NATO’s Atlantic Council adjunct – speaking from Ukraine, stated that the Kremlin has noticed a leadership “vacuum” in Kiev is “testing for soft tissue” in the West.
The strategy has reportedly been effective, he says, as missile strikes across Ukrainian cities have increased the possibility of winter power and heating shortages.
Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian ports, according to officials, have also hurt Kiev’s logistics.
The report indicates that Ukraine’s losses are reshaping the strategic outlook in the US and Western Europe. It highlights that a Russian victory would be a major setback for Washington and NATO.
Moscow highlighted Kiev’s aspirations to join NATO as among the main reasons for launching its military operation against Ukraine in February 2022.
Ruth Deyermond, of King’s College London, told the outlet that a cease-fire would cause the Americans to lose face. “Ukraine losing would look to the rest of the world as if the US was losing to Russia… any scaling back of US support would also look as if the US had been forced to retreat by Russia,” she said.
Political shifts in the US could mean a reassessment of Washington’s aid to Ukraine, Foreign Policy added. Observers warn this may signal a weakened American footprint on the global stage.
Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukrainian military and energy facilities in recent months. In April, the Defense Ministry said they were a response to Kiev’s attempts to target Russian oil infrastructure, stressing that the targeted facilities support the Ukrainian defense industry, and that the strikes do not target civilians.
Comment: Ukraine was never anything more than a patsy battering-ram to try to weaken Russia. An eastern European Vietnam as it were. Except that it didn’t work.
- NATO’s colonization of Ukraine under guise of partnership
- Ukraine attains full puppet state status, signs defense agreement with NATO
- NATO plans Europe-wide escalation of war against Russia
- Glenn Diesen: Is NATO helping Ukraine to fight Russia or is it using Ukraine to fight Russia?
- The longer it takes the West to accept that Ukraine is losing, the worse things will get for Ukraine
- Former NATO adviser: US, UK sabotaged peace deal because they ‘don’t care about Ukraine’
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes:
Nuclear lobby continues its infiltration of education

Alde Valley Academy students design Sizewell C power station
Alde Valley Academy students design Sizewell C power station. Students were
tasked with a unique challenge to design the planned Sizewell C nuclear
power station using digital Lego bricks.
East Anglian Daily Times 8th Nov 2024
The Government-Media-Academia Misinformation Machine and “Ukraine’s Victory”

Russian and Eurasian Politics, by Gordonhahn, November 9, 2024
The U.S. government’s infiltration into mass media and academia may finally become exposed and its enormous misinformation and divisive effect on the American body politic perhaps diminished as a result of its massive overeach in a matter of war and peace – specifically the NATO-Russia Ukrainian War.
Those who comprise the government-media-academia complex have teams of researchers, access to government data, vast funding and other resources. They know or can learn the facts but choose to relay to the public fake realities. In short, what I describe below are not mistakes but intentional and well-worked out lies designed to manipulate the public contrary to its interests. If the reality were offered to the public, it would see how it runs counter to its interests and would seek policy changes.
This is what we heard from the flagship propaganda organ of said complex – the New York Times – in July as Russia’s offensive gained steam: „Russia is unlikely to make significant territorial gains in Ukraine in the coming months as its poorly trained forces struggle to break through Ukrainian defenses that are now reinforced with Western munitions, U.S. officials say“ (www.nytimes.com/2024/07/09/us/politics/russia-ukraine-nato.html). At the same time, the axis in the persons of such ‚observers‘ as former U.S. General David Patraeus and former US ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul was feeding the American public quite the same line: that Ukraine was winning and would win (even as it said that Russia threatened all of Europe with military conquest).
There are alternative, if ostracized and little known sources for gathering real facts. Not to toot my own horn, but I noted in January 2024 on Glenn Diessen’s and Alexander Mercouris’s podcast that Russia would be very gradually increasing its territorial gains in hunting and ultimately defeating the Ukrainian armed forces: „There will be a very, very gradual acceleration, intensification of the offensive, the Russian…‚aggressive attrition‘ will gradually become more successful in that more and more territory will be taken each month, a few square kilometers more each month in the winter and spring, and then the big question becomes: Will Russia decide to turn that gradual succes into a major offensive…“ (https://youtu.be/P_MJi5H6HKU?si=rxRiaE0EglSgbclw, at the 1:00:45 mark).
In February 2024, I wrote: „This winter, with the demonstrated failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive obvious by autumn, we have begun to witness Russian forces’ transition to attrit and advance across the entire front, except on the Krynki foothold on the southern Dniepr in Kherson. In November, Russian forces occupied an addition some 13 kilometers and tripled that result in December. We can expect in January a multiple of December’s 40+ kilometers, evidencing the second ‘advance’ aspect of ‘attrit and advance’.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….Now, as Ukraine’s defense lines are dissolving and its forces are retreating to the Dnieper River, the propaganda complex’s deceptive narrative has come in grave danger of being utterly exposed. This and nothing else, except perhaps a command from Pennsylvania Ave. or Langley, the complex flagship New York Times is coming clean in order to cover its ass, albeit. And it demonstrates what I — a lone, unknown, fully ostracized researcher — was writing early this year.
The intellectual universe in the US is so spoiled that the NYT had to turn to a foreign institute to provide data for its belated, truth-telling, coming clean article. It cites Finnish mapper and analyst Pasi Paroinen. Citing Paroinen, the NYT admits now Russian forces have been making large gains for three months: „Half of Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine so far this year were made in the past three months alone, according to Pasi Paroinen, a military expert with the Finland-based Black Bird Group.“ „In August, Ukraine’s defensive lines buckled, and Russia rapidly advanced 10 miles“ In October, Russia made its largest territorial gains since the summer of 2022, as Ukrainian lines buckled under sustained pressure. October’s gains amounted to “more than 160 square miles of land in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region”(www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/31/world/europe/russia-gains-ukraine-maps.html). But the However, NYT nor any other US mainstream media source or expert mentioned Russia’s August gains.
Moreover, the NYT came clean on something even more important: the im pending, if not imminent collapse of the Ukrainian frontline defense and army: NYT reported in a different piece that „Ukraine has enough soldiers to fight for six to 12 more months, one official said. After that, he said, it will face a steep shortage” (https://archive.is/QgomM). Collapse can occur well before the ‚steep shortage.‘
The NYT article only cites Poinenen regarding Russian gains in Donetsk, but Russian gains are being made all along the front line from the north in Kharkiv to the south in Zaporozhe. Paroinen’s measurement of overall Russian gains so far in 2024 confirms my own expectation of gradually increasing Russian territorial gains:………………………………………………………………………………………..
Naturally, the NYT tries to cover up the fact that all during this period of mounting Russian gains until the last day in October, it as the rest of the U.S. and Western mass media told readers that there was a stalemate in Ukraine…………………………………………………
The NYT and other organs of the government-media-academia do one thing somewhat effectively: glossing over its presentation of fables over fact, covering its ass, its tracks and the dripping Ukrainian blood (not to mention that of Russians and others). Will Americans see state apparat and its media-academic complex now? https://gordonhahn.com/2024/11/09/the-government-media-academia-misinformation-machine-and-ukraines-victory/
Biden Team Wants To Rush Weapons Shipments to Ukraine Before Trump Inauguration

The administration wants to exhaust $6 billion in remaining military aid
by Dave DeCamp November 6, 2024. https://news.antiwar.com/2024/11/06/biden-team-wants-to-rush-weapons-shipments-to-ukraine-before-trump-inaguration/
—
The Biden administration is preparing to rush over $6 billion in military aid to Ukraine before Inauguration Day, POLITICO reported on Wednesday.
The report said the Biden team expects the incoming administration to end the weapons flow, as President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on ending the proxy war.
The Biden administration has $4.3 billion in military aid that can be pulled from existing US stockpiles, known as the Presidential Drawdown Authority. There is also $2.1 billion available in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides money to put weapons under contract, meaning it takes longer to deliver.
Biden officials are unsure if they’ll be able to rush all the aid to Ukraine before January 20 since any military equipment they send must be replaced, and it’s unclear if production levels are high enough to ship so many weapons in such a short period of time.
“We have been sending whatever industry can produce each month, but the problem is you can only send these things as they are produced,” Mark Cancian, a former Pentagon budget official, told POLITICO. “The administration could dip into the stockpiles and send equipment more quickly, but it’s unclear the Pentagon would want to do that since it would affect its own readiness.”
Even if the weapons are sent from US military stockpiles, the actual delivery time could still take months, and Biden officials are worried the next administration could cancel them before they arrive in Ukraine.
UK budget outlines nuclear power plans (new nuclear not a high priority)
Nuclear Engineering International 5th Nov 2024
The first budget of the UK Labour Government included decisions related to both the Sizewell C NPP and to plans for small modular reactors (SMRs). However, this was clearly not a high priority in the 170-page budget. The small eight paragraph section on the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) included just two short paragraphs on nuclear.
DESNZ was allocated total funding of £14.1bn ($18.2bn) in 2025-26 up 22.0% from 2023-24. The main paragraph (4.75) notes that “Making Britain a clean energy superpower is one of the five missions of this government. Great British Energy (GBE) will be at the heart of the mission.” GBE is allocated £100m million capital funding in 2025-26 “for clean energy project development” and £25m to establish GBE as a company, headquartered in Aberdeen. Investment activity will be undertaken by the National Wealth Fund, “helping it to make initial investments as quickly as possible”.
The budget says “new nuclear will play an important role in helping the UK achieve energy security and clean power while securing thousands of good, skilled jobs” (para 4.80). It provides £2.7bn to continue development of Sizewell C through 2025-26. “The process to raise equity and debt for the project will shortly move to its final stages and will conclude in the Spring. As with other major multiyear commitments, a Final Investment Decision (FID) on whether to proceed with the project will be taken in Phase 2 of the Spending Review.” Phase 2 is expected in the Spring.
However, on 30 August DESNZ announced a Sizewell C Development Expenditure (Devex) Scheme that would benefit from up to £5.5bn in subsidies to get to a FID with support mainly comprising equity injections by the UK government. The £2.7bn announced in the budget is not new funding and would be taken either from £5.5bn already made available or through a separate subsidy scheme that would be established at the point of the FID.
Sizewell C, in Suffolk, is expected to host two EPR reactor units producing 3.2 GWe similar to the Hinkley Point C plant, under construction in Somerset. EDF Energy submitted a development consent order (planning application) for the plant in May 2020, which was granted in July 2022. In March 2023, the Environment Agency granted environmental permits for the plant.
The UK government in August 2023 made available a further £341m of previously allocated funding to help prepare the site for construction on top of the government’s existing £870m investment made available from the DESNZ Capital Budgets. EDF said in November 2022 that construction of Sizewell C remained subject to a FID that depended on the achievement of certain key stages, in particular the ability to raise the necessary financing. DESNZ said that, subject to receiving the relevant approvals, the government said then it was aiming to reach FID before the end of 2024. However, the FID will now be taken in Phase 2 of the Spending Review.
The decision was criticised by opponents of the Sizewell C project. Alison Downes from Stop Sizewell C noted: “For a government that criticised the opposition for playing fast and loose with the nation’s finances, the Chancellor is surprisingly happy to do the same, allocating another £2.7bn of taxpayers’ money on risky, expensive Sizewell C, without making any guarantee of a Final Investment Decision being taken.
Jenny Kirtley, Chair of Together Against Sizewell C described the decision as appalling. “It’s staggering that Labour, even though they cast doubt about the future of the project by stating, “a Final Investment Decision on whether to proceed with the project will be taken in Phase 2 of the Spending Review”, have increased the outlay of UK taxpayer funds on EDF’s Sizewell C white elephant by a further £2.7bn.”
On SMRs, the Budget said: “Great British Nuclear’s (GBN’s) Small Modular Reactor competition is ongoing and has entered the negotiation phase with shortlisted vendors.” (para 4.81). In September, GBN concluded the initial tender phase of the competition and down-selected four companies – GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy International, Holtec Britain, Rolls-Royce SMR, and Westinghouse Electric Company UK. GBN then said it expected the final decision on the technologies to be supported would be taken by the end of the year. It had previously been set for summer 2024. The Budget has now deferred that decision until the Spring 2025………………
https://www.neimagazine.com/news/uk-budget-decision-on-sizewell-c-and-smrs/
Hinkley workers ‘unfair’ pay claim leads to action
Workers involved in the construction of the Hinkley Point nuclear power
plant have started industrial action after claiming they are being paid
unfairly. Employed by the firm Alten – a supplier for EDF’s Hinkley Point C
– the workers say they have not had a cost of living pay rise in four
years. They walked out of their Bristol office for 24 hours on Tuesday and
have now begun action which Prospect Union described as “short of a
strike”.
BBC 7th Nov 2024,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgdlg1ql5no
With Trump back in White House, can Ukraine opt for nuclear deterrence?
Experts say Ukraine is capable of producing nuclear weapons as a deterrent against Russia within years, but the political costs would be too high
by Oleg Sukhov, November 6, 2024
With the looming risk that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump may pull the plug on Washington’s support for Ukraine, Kyiv has flirted with the option of nuclear deterrence.
The prospect of such a scenario was raised weeks earlier when President Volodymyr Zelensky in October said he had told Trump during a September meeting in New York City that Ukraine would either join NATO or develop nuclear weapons.
Zelensky claimed that Trump had heard him and said that “it was a fair argument.”
He later walked back that statement, saying that Ukraine was not pursuing nuclear weapons.
However, Zelensky’s statement prompted speculation on whether a Ukrainian nuclear weapons program is realistic from technological and political standpoints.
Experts say that Ukraine is capable of producing at least a primitive nuclear weapon within years, although it would require considerable investment.
Biden, Zelensky ponder face saving off ramp from failed US proxy war against Russia
Tho they’re loath to admit, Biden and Zelensky are likely preparing a face saving response to the inevitable end to the war which will return no captured territory to Kyiv.
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL, 6 Nov 24
For 33 months the Biden administration and its sycophantic media have been portraying the war raging in Ukraine as unprovoked Russian aggression that would be repelled.
The US and NATO allies have poured over $200 billion in weaponry, but not a single fighting soldier, for Ukraine to regain the Crimea and roughly 20% of Donbas and neighboring oblasts Russia has captured.
The US government and media narrative endlessly proclaimed a weakened Russia and weaponized Ukraine would turn the war in Ukraine’s favor.
No more. The reality of Ukraine’s inevitable collapse as a defensive fighting force is too stark to ignore. This became clear last week when the New York Times, a staunch media supporter of US/ Ukraine prospects against Russia, abruptly pivoted to truth telling.
In an article titled “Russia’s Swift March Forward in Ukraine’s East” the Times reports Ukraine’s defensive lines “buckled” and that its Kursk offensive in Russia has “weakened” Ukraine’s defenses in the much more vital Donbas. Furthermore “Russia’s attacks gradually weakened the Ukrainian army to the point where its troops are so stretched that they can no longer hold some of their positions.” Serious personnel shortages” and stretched defensive lines allow “Russia to quickly advance whenever it finds a weak spot.”
Tho they’re loath to admit, Biden and Zelensky are likely preparing a face saving response to the inevitable end to the war which will return no captured territory to Kyiv.
Zelensky can claim his that the loss of territory is due to the US and NATO refusing to provide the weaponry and support needed to repel Russia. He will pretend that his valiant defense in the absence of all out US/NATO support prevented Russia from conquering all of Western Ukraine. He will never concede the lost territory is part of sovereign Russia which keeps alive the dream of eventually unifying all of Ukraine. Of course, ending up with a shattered country having lost a quarter of its population, 20% of its most fertile land, hundreds of thousands dead and disabled does not bode well for Zelensky’s political future.
Once Ukraine capitulates and withdraws from Donbas, Biden, or Trump might have a tougher face saving sell. They’ll likely claim the $200 billion was well spent because it insured most of Ukraine remained free and stopped Russian’s inexorable march into Western Europe to recreate the Soviet Union. Of course nobody with an iota of political savvy will buy into that preposterous delusion.
Just like everybody else knows, both Volodymyr and Joe know the war is over…...
Germany excludes over half of its territory in search for long-term nuclear waste storage

05 Nov 2024, Ruby Russel, GermanyClean Energy Wire / ARD, https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/germany-excludes-over-half-its-territory-search-long-term-nuclear-waste-storage
The BGE (Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal) has published an interim report on the status of Germany’s search for a final storage site for nuclear waste. The report includes an interactive map of Germany showing areas it has tested so far, and those found to be unsuitable for the repository, which must keep around 28,100 cubic metres of radioactive material safe for hundreds of thousands of years. The latest status report detailed the BGE’s assessment of 13 sub-areas, which ruled out sites that failed to meet safety requirements. This narrows the search to 44 percent of the country’s land, public broadcaster ARD reported.
The BGE began its search in 2017, following Germany’s 2011 commitment to phase out nuclear power. Previously planned repositories at sites such as Gorleben were abandoned after fierce protest from residents. The BGE then began its work by viewing Germany as a “blank map” on which any location with the right geological conditions could be identified as a potential storage site.
BGE chair Iris Graffunder said that from now on, the BGE would publish status reports annually, allowing the public to follow its progress. German environment minister Steffi Lemke welcomed the planned yearly updates as an important measure for transparency. “The regular publications will allow everyone in Germany to see that the BGE is on schedule for the end of 2027,” Lemke said. “We can and must find a final repository site by the middle of the century. We owe this to the people who live in the regions with interim storage facilities.”
The government agency is to complete its Phase 1 tests by 2027, when it is scheduled to submit its final proposal to the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE), with a shortlist of suitable sites for further exploration in Phase 2 of the search.
Highly radioactive waste is currently held at 16 interim storage facilities close to Germany’s decommissioned nuclear power plants, the last of which went offline in April 2023. Germany had aimed to select a location for the final repository by 2031, but in 2022 the BGE pushed the deadline until at least 2046. A recent report commissioned by the BASE found that the process could take until 2075, but the environment ministry disputed these findings, saying they did not account for recent progress that has accelerated the search.
Radioactive pollution from bomb plant sparks cancer fears
The Ferret Rob Edwards, November 4, 2024
Radioactive air pollution from the nuclear weapons plant at Coulport, on the Clyde, has more than doubled over the last six years, prompting cancer warnings from campaigners.
Emissions of the radioactive gas, tritium, from the Royal Naval Armaments Depot on Loch Long, have risen steadily between 2018 and 2023 from 1.7 billion to 4.2 billion units of radioactivity, according to the latest official figures.
Campaigners say that tritium is “very hazardous” when it is breathed in, and can increase the risk of cancers. But according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), the emissions are well within safety limits.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has declined to say what has caused the increased pollution. Tritium is known to leak from ageing nuclear submarine reactors, and is also an essential component of nuclear bombs.
Coulport, eight miles from the nuclear submarine base at Faslane on the Gareloch, is where Trident missiles and nuclear warheads are stored. They are loaded on and off Vanguard nuclear-powered submarines at an explosives handling jetty.
The rising tritium emissions from Coulport have been revealed in Sepa’s Scottish Pollution Release Inventory. The inventory was updated in October 2024 to include figures for 2023.
Rising tritium pollution from Coulport
| Year | Tritium emitted to air (MBq) |
|---|
| 2018 | 1,770 |
| 2019 | 2,046 |
| 2020 | 2,298 |
| 2021 | 3,038 |
| 2022 | 3,472 |
| 2023 | 4,224 |
| Total | 16,848 |
Source: Scottish Pollution Release Inventory
The inventory also disclosed that Faslane has discharged liquids contaminated with tritium into the Gareloch, amounting to a total of over 50 billion units of radioactivity from 2018 to 2023. The discharges peaked at 16.6 billion units in 2020.
A report released by Sepa under freedom of information law revealed that in 2019 it changed the rules to allow certain tritium-contaminated effluents from nuclear submarines at Faslane to be discharged into the Gareloch.
“Low levels” of tritium had been discovered in waste, sewage and ballast water from submarines. Sepa agreed a “minor variation” to radioactive waste regulations to allow the continued treatment and disposal of the effluents.
Tritium discharges into the Clyde from Faslane
| Year | Tritium discharged to water (MBq) |
|---|
| 2018 | 5,817 |
| 2019 | 6,510 |
| 2020 | 16,609 |
| 2021 | 13,416 |
| 2022 | 1,582 |
| 2023 | 6,946 |
| Total | 50,880 |
Source: Scottish Pollution Release Inventory
Increasing tritium air pollution from Coulport was described as “worrying” by Dr Ian Fairlie, an expert on radioactivity in the environment and a former UK government advisor. He is now vice-president of the UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
“First, they are large, more than four billion becquerels per year; second, they are steadily increasing; and third, they are of tritium – which is very hazardous when it’s inhaled or ingested,” he told The Ferret.
The discharges from Faslane into the Gareloch were also of concern, he said. “Any dose of radiation is hazardous to some degree, so that these discharges – especially of tritium – are disquieting.”…………………………………………………………………………………
https://theferret.scot/radioactive-tritium-coulport-cancer/
UK says it voted against UN nuclear war panel because consequences already known
The UK was one of three countries to vote against creating a UN scientific
panel on the effects of nuclear war because, the Foreign Office argued, the
“devastating consequences” of such a conflict are already well known
without the need for a new study. The UK, France and Russia were the only
countries to vote on Friday night against a UN general assembly committee
resolution drafted by Ireland and New Zealand to set up an international
scientific inquiry to take a fresh look at the multifaceted impact of
nuclear weapons use.
Guardian 4th Nov 2024 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/04/uk-joins-russia-and-france-in-voting-against-un-nuclear-war-inquiry
Hinkley Point and Sizewell nuclear plant engineers go on strike.
Specialist workers say they have not had a pay rise in four years and that cheap
foreign labour from India and Nigeria is being used to undercut British
workers. The cabling and pipework engineers, represented by the
professional trade union Prospect, work on the Hinkley Point C nuclear
power station being built in Somerset by EDF, as well as the Sizewell C
project planned for Suffolk.
They claim that since beginning their dispute
last year with their employer Alten, which provides engineering services
for the projects, they have discovered foreign colleagues brought in from
outside the UK and EU, from places such as India and Nigeria, are being
paid about half their wages. A source told The Times: “We started the
dispute about pay rises before it emerged that foreign colleagues were
being brought in on vastly lower wages.
“We are all on between £50,000
and £75,000 but it has since emerged that these foreign colleagues are
being paid less than £30,000. That is absolutely ridiculous for the type of
work they are doing and it is being done to drive down costs and the
internal market rate for these roles.”
The Times 5th Nov 2024 https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/energy/article/hinkley-point-and-sizewell-nuclear-plant-engineers-go-on-strike-xv0fk93dl
US nuclear weapons could be sited in RAF Lakenheath in spring, CND protest hears

“We are standing on the edge of the nuclear abyss. And our governments have the responsibility to keep us safe; and what are they doing? They are pushing us over the edge.”
US nuclear weapons could be sited at RAF Lakenheath as early as spring, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has warned.
The CND’s new general secretary Sophie Bolt told dozens of protesters outside the Suffolk airbase on Saturday: “We are very very concerned about the threat of a nuclear escalation between nuclear-armed Nato and nuclear-armed Russia.
“What’s happening here at this base is absolutely central to this growing nuclear threat in eastern Europe.
“It’s also the horrific genocidal war we are seeing in the Middle East because again it’s F35-A jets here and fighter pilots based here that are involved in that war.
“This base completely ties the UK to the complicity of genocide that is being carried out against Palestinian people.”
Green Party peer Jenny Jones said it is “obviously incredibly dangerous” to site nuclear bombs in Britain due to its size and international importance.
She added: “If Russia decide to get really heavy not just with Ukraine but other countries, then we could be a target even if they just think we have nuclear weapons here.
“Secondly, it’s really undemocratic. We need a public debate about the common sense or the lack of it in siting nuclear weapons in Britain.
“We should have a debate in Parliament about this and it should be a free vote as well so we can see exactly what all MPs say about this issue.”
Former Australian minister Melissa Parke, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, noted last month’s serious fire at BAE Systems nuclear submarine shipyard in Cumbria; Sellafield nuclear processing plant’s fines for cyber security failings; and maintenance issues on Britain’s nuclear fleet.
She said: “So fires, cyber security failings, maintenance problems on nuclear subs, I mean what could possibly go wrong?
“We are standing on the edge of the nuclear abyss. And our governments have the responsibility to keep us safe; and what are they doing? They are pushing us over the edge.”
Nuke Watch’s Peter Burt described detailed analysis of official documents by scientists, plane spotters and campaigners.
He said: “It’s very clear that we need to keep a close eye on what’s happening here.
“What there is no substitute for is eyes on the ground … in the same way we had in the 1980s we had the Cruise Watch Network, who kept tabs on what’s happening at Greenham Common.”
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