Extensions to improvement notices following asbestos shortfalls at Torness
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has granted extensions to four improvement notices – two each served on EDF and contractor Trillium Flow Services UK Ltd – following asbestos shortfalls at Torness Nuclear Power Station.
The incident occurred during a planned outage at the East Lothian site in Scotland, in March 2026, when workers could have been exposed to asbestos in a valve within the steam system while carrying out overhaul activities.
There was no risk to nuclear safety, the public or the environment.
ONR has recognised that both companies have made progress towards meeting the requirements of the notices and so extensions have been granted to allow EDF and Trillium Flow Services UK Ltd more time to demonstrate full compliance.
Trillium Flow Services UK Ltd must comply with both of its notices by 30 September 2026.
EDF now has until 27 January 2027 to comply with the first notice for failing to maintain a written plan identifying areas of the site where asbestos is, or may be, present.
And it now has until 30 October 2026 to comply with the second notice, which relates to a failure to prevent or adequately reduce employee exposure to asbestos during valve overhaul activities.
ONR will continue to monitor both companies to ensure full compliance is achieved.
AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC Lavalin) signs Sizewell civil works agreement
7 July 26. The Construction Index
AtkinsRéalis has signed a new five-year framework agreement to continue its civil works role at Sizewell C.
AtkinsRéalis will act as design partner for the permanent civil works, providing multidisciplinary design and engineering services across the permanent plant design at Sizewell C, including the conventional island, balance of plant, heat sink buildings and ancillary works.
“AtkinsRéalis has played a significant role in design and engineering management at Sizewell C since 2019 ……………….. https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/atkinsralis-signs-sizewell-civil-works-agreement
Here’s why Labour’s nuclear plans are wrong for Scotland
THE UK Government has used the distraction of Andy Burnham’s coronation and the
row over defence spending to quietly push out a report that sets out where
they would like to build new nuclear power plants in Scotland.
However, it hasn’t gone unnoticed by energy experts. The report from GB Energy
Nuclear, titled “Technical Advice on Potential Future Nuclear Power Plant
Siting in Scotland”, is suitably tentative – any new build would depend
on the SNP making a complete about-turn on policy to allow the development
of plants that Scottish planning legislation explicitly blocks.
New nuclear power plants are consistently vastly behind schedule and over-budget,
whilst Scotland’s renewable energy revolution continues to deliver ever
greater contributions to meeting our energy demands. However, this new
report not only explicitly states where Labour would like to see new plants
built, it also quietly notes the risks development at those sites would
create for communities and our environment.
Whilst Torness, Dounreay, and Hunterston are earmarked, it also singles out the north shore of the Forth Estuary, the south bank of the Forth, and the Angus and Aberdeenshire coast. Note the common theme here – these are all coastal sites,
variously flagged for risks to Sites of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSIs), Special Protected Areas (SPAs), cultural heritage, and flooding
risks.
Those in Fife and Stirlingshire have particular reasons to be
worried. Coastal management is a difficult and complex task as it is. As
climate change brings increases in extreme weather events, coastal erosion,
sea level rise, and storm surges, tough decisions are being made about
which coastal areas will be defended, and how, and which will be subject to
managed retreats that will provide greater resilience for communities and
critical infrastructure.
Added to which, however we decide to manage one
stretch of coastline will have impacts on other stretches. This is why we
have a National Marine Plan. That work is hard enough without dropping in
new security-critical sites that would exacerbate existing problems and
make it even harder to manage and protect our often-fragile coastlines.
Furthermore, siting new plants further inland, for example along the Forth,
is no less risky.
The report notes that demand for cooling water is likely
to be a limiting factor, and that no supporting flow data for that part of
the Forth is currently available. Far from being “secure”, new nuclear
will build in greater insecurity and costs to our electricity supply. If
England, which has long lagged far behind Scotland in deploying renewables,
wishes to take those risks that’s a matter for its own electorate.
Scotland doesn’t need to follow suit, and no amount of scaremongering,
cajoling, or false promises from Shanks or the nuclear industry should
persuade our government to think otherwise.
The National 7th July 2026,
https://www.thenational.scot/politics/26260100.labours-nuclear-plans-wrong-scotland/
Revealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promise
“the AI growth zone designation is based more on optimistic and flashy promotional material than anything technically viable,”
The question of whether AI is a boom or bubble now largely rests on huge infrastructure projects such as Lanarkshire.
a series of high-profile projects announced over the past years were “phantom investments”, with the government failing to examine claims of job creation or audit multibillion-pound sums.
“Instead of governing for their communities, they choose the AI narrative.”
Government and developers privately acknowledged Lanarkshire datacentre site had power provision ‘issue’
- ‘It’s smoke and mirrors’: hope turns to fear in Scottish village chosen for AI datacentre
- What are Britain’s AI growth zones and are the plans feasible or ‘complete bunk’?
Aisha Down, Guardian, 6 July 2026
A landmark AI development billed as delivering jobs and prosperity has misrepresented its plans to channel a nuclear reactor’s worth of power to a site in rural Scotland, a Guardian investigation has found.
When it was announced in January, the government promised that an £8.2bn AI datacentre complex in Lanarkshire – built by the US firm CoreWeave and the Scottish company DataVita – would be powered entirely from on-site renewables and built by 2030.
The AI datacentre complex represented a large part of Britain’s ambitions to keep up in the global AI race by building the infrastructure that underpins artificial intelligence. A central plank of the project’s viability was its ability to power itself.
But documents obtained through freedom of information (FoI) requests and analysis of public records suggest the datacentre has no prospect of meeting that goal.
The Guardian obtained internal correspondence showing that the government and the site’s developers, even as they publicly promised that the Lanarkshire site would have up to 1GW of “new energy infrastructure”, were privately acknowledging that the site had an “issue” with “power provision” and that this would not happen.
In response to questions from the Guardian, the government said the Lanarkshire complex would connect to the grid. This means it will either join a years-long queue or be expedited ahead of hundreds of other projects also vying for a connection. A government spokesperson said the site’s needs would still be met “overwhelmingly” with renewables.
The findings raise critical doubts over the UK’s ability to confront the key question now facing the world’s massive AI buildout: how to provide the extraordinary energy required to make it plausible.
At best indicative, at worst complete bunk’
AI datacentres are, essentially, buildings full of very specialised silicon chips. The chips do the calculations that underpin artificial intelligence models. The world’s biggest tech companies are now ploughing hundreds of billions of dollars into the buildout of AI datacentres. Behind all this spending is the belief that AI will fundamentally transform the global economy, and that once it does, the AI datacentres will pay for themselves.
The question of whether AI is a boom or bubble now largely rests on huge infrastructure projects such as Lanarkshire.
The new details are not the first signal of problems in the UK’s burgeoning datacentre industry. In March, the Guardian reported that a series of high-profile projects announced over the past years were “phantom investments”, with the government failing to examine claims of job creation or audit multibillion-pound sums.
Power is a particularly fraught issue in the UK, where it is more expensive than anywhere else in Europe. There is an eight- to 10-year queue for new developments to connect to the grid, a delay that hangs over houses and hospitals as well as datacentres.
Britain is not the only place where political ambitions appear blind to the cost and difficulty of massive datacentre projects. Cecilia Rikap, an associate professor at University College London, said: “Governments around the world, including in the UK, are making political promises that ignore the realities of building infrastructure.
“Instead of governing for their communities, they choose the AI narrative.”
An analyst for a UK engineering consultancy who has advised several AI growth zone projects said: “There doesn’t seem to be appropriate scrutiny, public or otherwise, on these nationally significant projects. The figures and designs behind many schemes are at best indicative, and at worst complete bunk.”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………The energy consultant who reviewed the figures said: “To go from ‘nothing public’ to ‘country’s largest operational onshore windfarm’ in four years is pretty ambitious.” Given that DataVita has no plans on file for such a development, he concluded that the 2030 deadline was unlikely to be met.
HfD Group, DataVita’s parent company, recently posted plans for an “energy park” in Lanarkshire. These plans do not appear to have entered the planning process yet, but envision “up to 19” wind turbines being built in Lanarkshire. This would still only provide about 5% of what DataVita claims it will generate.
DataVita said the delivery of its energy commitments was “subject to final commercial agreements, planning, grid and consenting processes”.
Kat Jones, the director of APRS, said: “There is a wave of applications for hyperscale AI datacentres coming to Scotland and they all say they’re going to use renewable energy. We have examined DataVita’s plans to build renewables to power their 500MW datacentre and found them wanting.
“Even if they could build the amount of energy infrastructure they say they will, it would cover 100 kilometres squared, but only provide for half their energy requirements on average.”
‘Power provision remains a key issue’
This shortfall is not only DataVita’s problem. As a “growth zone”, Lanarkshire is a centrepiece of the UK’s AI ambitions – one of five sites designated to receive broad government support in building out vast datacentre parks.
On paper at least, AI growth zones need to meet a strict set of requirements, the most important being that they should have a realistic path to powering themselves. These requirements were set out in an application last summer that invited sites across the UK to apply to be AI growth zones.
The government asked applicants to show they had an already allotted grid connection or an alternative “behind-the-meter” solution – that is, a way to generate energy independently without a grid connection.
The Guardian established that the Lanarkshire site did not have the necessary grid connection, through an FoI inquiry to the UK’s National Energy System Operator (Neso). DataVita’s stated plans to generate its own electricity, meanwhile, do not appear to hold water.
Documents obtained by the Guardian through an FoI suggest both the government and DataVita are aware of these issues but that the government chose to designate Lanarkshire as an AI growth zone anyway.
In February, Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, addressed a letter to the managing director of DataVita, Danny Quinn, about Lanarkshire’s designation as an AI growth zone. He said: “I recognise that power provision remains a key issue and we will continue to engage with the UK government and relevant partners to secure timely grid connections that enable and support the development to proceed at pace.”
In a meeting in March, DataVita and officials from NatureScot appeared to bank on an expedited grid connection for the project: “DV4 will be driven by Scottish Power connections timescales which we expect to be brought forward to 2027.”
Meanwhile, other internal communications show that shortly before the Lanarkshire project was announced, UK and Scottish officials appeared to entertain the idea that DataVita’s site would simply burn gas to power itself. (DataVita said gas or any other fossil-fuel generation would not be used to power its datacentres.)
The consultant said DataVita’s own publications, and the fact they contain no indication of how it could realistically generate the energy it claims, called into question the seriousness of the government’s policymaking around a central component of its growth plans.
“It indicates that the AI growth zone designation is based more on optimistic and flashy promotional material than anything technically viable,” he said.
As for the government’s apparent willingness to later help DataVita get a grid connection, he said: “It now appears that the government is willing to loosen their own criteria to meet the arbitrary political timescales they set themselves.”
In response to a query from the Guardian, DataVita said the Lanarkshire development’s “energy strategy is based on new renewable generation, private-wire infrastructure, and intelligent connection to Scotland’s electricity system, with delivery subject to final commercial agreements, planning, grid and consenting processes”.
A government spokesperson said: “The Lanarkshire AI growth zone is on track to be the biggest datacentre development in Scottish history. AI is critical to the UK’s future prosperity and security – and to unlock its benefits, we need the infrastructure that underpins it.
“The whole government is determined to create the right conditions for investment in the UK’s AI and datacentre infrastructure – with Lanarkshire set to be the first AI growth zone in the country to see hardware rolled out.” https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/06/lanarkshire-scotland-ai-datacentre-project-renewable-energy
SpaceX just launched the 1st-ever nuclear-powered commercial satellite
Space, By Josh Dinner, July 7, 2026
The world’s first commercially built nuclear-powered satellite has reached orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The BOHR (Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability) satellite, built by Florida-based company City Labs, launched to space early this morning (July 7) on SpaceX’s Transporter-17 rideshare mission.
Transporter-17’s Falcon 9 rocket, which was carrying a total of 81 payloads, lifted off early this morning from the SpaceX pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and began delivering its payloads to their various orbits about 50 minutes late
BOHR is a novel cubesat demonstration mission from City Labs, which is testing out its proprietary “NanoTritium” betavoltaic micropower source in space for the first time. Similar to how spacecraft like NASA’s Voyager probes’ radioisotope thermoelectric generators produce power from the heat emitted from their plutonium cores, City Lab’s NanoTritium device harnesses the beta particles emitted from the radioactive decay of tritium, which can be converted directly to electricity using a semiconductor.
“This is a historic step for commercial nuclear power in space,” said City Labs CEO Peter Cabauy in a statement…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… “BOHR demonstrates that safe, compact, and regulatory-approved nuclear power systems are ready for routine commercial deployment,” Cabauy said. https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-just-launched-the-1st-ever-nuclear-powered-commercial-satellite
Zelensky honoring Ukrainian WWII fighters who massacred Poles and Jews not a good way to get Polish help in lost war against Russia.
Walt Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition Glen Ellyn IL , 9 July 26
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is traveling all over Europe begging for defensive missiles to repel Russian missiles and drones for which he has little to no defense. But he’s near totally alienated his Polish ally by his recent decision to sign a presidential decree bestowing the honorary title of “Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army” on an elite unit of the nation’s special forces after a World War II-era militia that slaughtered Poles and Jews during World War II.
Zelensky is even digging up the bones of former WWII era Ukrainian fascist leaders who participated in these anti Polish, anti-Jew atrocities to rebury them with honors in Kyiv. They include Andriy Melnyk, Yevgen Konovalets and Stepan Bandera. Why? Zelensky seeks to rev up Ukrainian nationalism to solidify his losing fight against Russia.
This anti Polish sentiment goes back to the end of WWI when newly created Poland gobbled up parts of Ukraine in the creation of their new state. The Nazi invasion of WWII allowed Ukraine ultra-nationalists to join forces with the Nazis to inflict payback on Poland. Zelensky is exploiting that sentiment to shore up his dwindling support among his dishearteded, demoralized populous suffering impending defeat in their lost war.
Poland officials are furious and won’t be sending Zelensky defensive missiles anytime soon.
Former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller describes Zelensky’s honoring a WWII era fascist militia as akin to Germany renaming a military unit after the Nazis’ Einsatzgruppen death squads.
Back in February 2022, Russian President Putin stated one of his war goals was denazification of Zelensky’s Kyiv government. Zelensky’s bizarre, ludicrous honoring of WWII era fascist Ukrainian militias and their leaders is doing nothing to prevent Ukraine’s inevitable collapse and proving Putin’s war goal justified.
Labour minister dodges question on SNP Government and UK nuclear plans.
A LABOUR energy minister has refused to say if his Scottish counterparts were
consulted before the UK Government published a report on building new
nuclear power stations north of the Border.
Last week, the nuclear wing of
GB Energy – set up by Labour after the 2024 General Election –
published a scoping study into building nuclear power plants in Scotland
despite the SNP-led Scottish Government’s opposition to new nuclear.
In the Commons on Tuesday, SNP MP Graham Leadbitter asked whether the UK
Government had held discussions with the Scottish Government or any local
authorities prior to announcing the list of potential nuclear energy sites.
Michael Shanks, a UK energy minister and Scottish Labour MP, avoided the
question, saying only that the Westminster Government was “open to
discussions with the Scottish Government on opportunities for new nuclear
in Scotland”.
Leadbitter then said: “Two years ago, Labour promised to
cut bills for every household by £300. “Not only are households now
paying hundreds of pounds more instead of less, Labour’s nuclear tax on
household energy bills will cost Scots a further £300 million over the
next decade.
The National 7th July 2026, https://www.thenational.scot/news/26259570.labour-minister-dodges-question-snp-government-uk-nuclear-plans/
Labour ‘scaremongering’ to push Scotland into new nuclear, experts say
By Xander Elliards, The National 7th July 2026
LABOUR ministers are “scaremongering” in the hope of pressuring
Scotland into building new nuclear power stations, a group of energy
experts has warned. Writing a joint article for The National, six academics
suggested that the UK Government was using “false promises” of a
“golden age of nuclear in England and Wales” in order to try and force
a U-turn from the Scottish Government.
As it stands, the SNP have an
effective veto on any new nuclear developments north of the Border because
planning laws are devolved to Holyrood. However, the UK Government last
week published a GB Energy report scoping out Scottish sites that could
host a new nuclear power plant, and on Tuesday UK energy minister Michael
Shanks said Labour will do “everything we can to move forward”.
Writing for The National, Dr Keith Baker, Dr Paul Dorfman, Professor Peter
Strachan, Dr Ian Fairlie, Professor Lynn Jamieson, and Gordon Morgan argued
that Scotland does not need any new nuclear energy plants “and no amount
of scaremongering, cajoling, or false promises from Shanks or the nuclear
industry should persuade our government to think otherwise”.
Cleaning up: Ukrainian Woman suspected of Monaco bombing found shot dead near Kyiv
The affair could prove politically costly for Kyiv. Any evidence linking members of Ukraine’s intelligence services to a bombing on European soil would be deeply damaging, coming as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at a Nato summit on Tuesday seeking to shore up western support while Russia continues its deadly bombardment of Ukrainian cities.
Last week, German prosecutors accused Ukrainian “state authorities” of ordering the 2022 explosives attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia with Europe.
Pjotr Sauer, The Guardian, Tue, 07 Jul 2026, https://www.sott.net/article/507300-Cleaning-up-Ukrainian-woman-suspected-of-Monaco-bombing-found-shot-dead-near-Kyiv
Anastasiia Berezovska was being sought by police over attack that seriously injured a Ukraine-born businessman
A woman suspected of carrying out last week’s bomb attack in Monaco that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon has been found shot dead near Kyiv, in the latest twist in a case that has shaken the wealthy Mediterranean principality.
Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case, including an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer.
On Friday, Interpol issued a red notice for 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska, a Ukrainian national who speaks German. The notice – a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a suspect pending extradition – said Berezovska was wanted by Monaco on charges of attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy.
Prosecutors said in a statement that Berezovska received cryptocurrency payments from the two men who were later arrested, leading investigators to treat them as “individuals potentially involved in the attempted murder in Monaco”. They added that the serving HUR officer was “acting on his own initiative” and did not inform his superiors about his contacts with Berezovska.
Prosecutors also released footage showing a blood-stained “torture chamber”, containing hammers and other equipment, which they said was discovered during searches of the men’s properties.
The Guardian could not independently verify the prosecutors’ account.
The affair could prove politically costly for Kyiv. Any evidence linking members of Ukraine’s intelligence services to a bombing on European soil would be deeply damaging, coming as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at a Nato summit on Tuesday seeking to shore up western support while Russia continues its deadly bombardment of Ukrainian cities.
Prince Albert II of Monaco previously condemned the bombing as “an odious act” and said all the principality’s security services had been mobilised.
The victims have not been officially identified, but police and judicial sources told French media they were Vadym Iermolaiev, 58, a businessman originally from Ukraine who now holds Cypriot citizenship, his girlfriend and their son. Iermolaiev and his partner were taken to hospital with serious injuries, while the child sustained minor injuries.
French prosecutors allege Berezovska, who had been living in Germany, disguised herself as a man before placing an explosive device in the entrance hall of the family’s apartment building in Monaco.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Iermolaiev had been living in Monaco as part of a group of wealthy Ukrainian businessmen and politicians that independent Ukrainian media labelled the “Monaco battalion”.
Ukraine imposed sanctions on Iermolaiev in 2023, alleging he had maintained business links with Russian entities operating in Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow, including Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
Comment: The Guardian hews to the narrative . . . .
Monaco’s deputy prosecutor said last week that the suspected attacker fled the principality on foot into neighbouring France before travelling by car to Germany via several European countries, including Italy.
Ukraine has carried out numerous lethal operations involving explosive devices against senior Russian military officers and Kremlin-backed Ukrainian officials inside Russia, but there is no established precedent for such attacks on European territory.
Last week, German prosecutors accused Ukrainian “state authorities” of ordering the 2022 explosives attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia with Europe.
Comment: Among other criminal activities, Vadym Iermolaiev apparently ran a number of call center scamming operations. From the Daily Mail:
Now, Ukrainian police sources have claimed that the violent attack is directly linked to a network of fraudulent call centres in Dnipro, Ukraine, allegedly used to carry out large-scale financial scams across Europe.
The Yermolaiev family is alleged to have played a significant role in the scheme, with the oligarch’s name reportedly at the centre of a sprawling pan-European investigation into clandestine call centres operating out of Ukraine.
According to sources, the so-called ‘boiler room’ operations defrauded thousands of investors in Germany, Estonia and Ukraine of more than €100million (£86million) between 2019 and 2022, through fake cryptocurrency investment schemes.
The network also allegedly sold fraudulent divorce advice to unsuspecting victims.
Ukrainian law enforcement sources say that French investigators believe the murder attempt may have been orchestrated by members of a criminal network in retaliation.
Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported that the attempted assassination stemmed from a failed agreement to divide territory and unpaid debts allegedly owed to organised crime bosses in Dnipro.
While Vadym, who is currently subject to sanctions in Ukraine, handled the financial side of the operation, it was his son, Artur, who reportedly ran the network.
According to local reports, Artur was arrested by Interpol in Cyprus at the end of 2025 following an Estonian arrest warrant.
Although it isn’t mentioned, Zelensky is known to demand a cut of criminal profits made in Ukraine in exchange for looking the other way. The professionalism of the operation certainly points to a state operation.
From ZeroHedge:
Per Euronews:
After the explosion, she is believed to have walked to the nearby French town of Beausoleil, where she retrieved her rental car and drove through Italy to Germany, her last known country of residence, Morgan Raymond, Monaco’s deputy public prosecutor, told reporters.
“The relative sophistication of the explosive device and the modus operandi appear to indicate that the person who planted the device did not act alone,“ the prosecutor said, confirming that the individual was “a woman posing as a man.”
Given that Ukrainian businessman Iermolaiev had long ago been declared an enemy of the Ukrainian state, and has been under sanctions for years for his extensive business dealings in Crimea, Ukrainian intelligence has come under the spotlight for possible involvement in the Monaco bomb attack – a first of its kind in the small, wealthy principality.
Le Figaroreported that the investigation focuses on Zelensky’s secret police (SBU) in the Monaco bomb attack: “According to several concurring sources at Le Figaro, investigators are focusing on the possibility that the attack was orchestrated by the SBU, the Ukrainian intelligence service.”
So already the Zelensky government is desperately trying to distance itself from the ordeal, claiming that Ukraine’s own intelligence officer was merely “acting on his own”. More details are as follows:
Ukrainian authorities said they detained two men on suspicion of murdering Berezovska “by prior conspiracy.”
Police said that one of the men – a current employee of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate – confessed to the murder of Berezovska and claimed that the second suspect, who is a former law enforcement officer, was an accomplice.
Consultation to strengthen UK nuclear manufacturing
HVM Catapult says more than £100bn of nuclear investment presents a major opportunity for UK manufacturing and supply chains
08/07/2026 , https://www.energylivenews.com/2026/07/08/consultation-to-strengthen-uk-nuclear-manufacturing/
The High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult has launched a national consultation, to help UK industry capture the economic and industrial benefits of more than £100bn of expected investment in the country’s civil and defence nuclear programmes over the next decade.
The organisation is developing a ten-year Nuclear Manufacturing Strategy, arguing that the planned investment represents a “once in a generation” opportunity to strengthen the UK’s manufacturing base, improve energy security and create long-term economic growth.
The consultation will gather views from industry, government, academia and regional partners to identify how HVM Catapult can help accelerate industrial capability, strengthen supply chains and support businesses competing in future nuclear markets.
HVM Catapult Chief Executive Katherine Bennett said countries that succeed in the coming decade will be those that build advanced manufacturing ecosystems alongside new nuclear power stations.
She said: “Nuclear is both fundamental to the UK’s future energy security and one of the biggest industrial opportunities this country has seen in decades.
“It is a once in a generation moment to build a globally competitive manufacturing ecosystem that supports clean energy, strengthens defence, creates high-value jobs and delivers long-term economic prosperity across the country.
“Much of the capability needed to support the next generation of nuclear technologies already exists within UK manufacturing. The challenge is identifying it, connecting it to opportunity and giving businesses the confidence to invest.”
The consultation begins at the National Nuclear Manufacturing Conference on 9 July before continuing through a series of regional engagement events across the UK.
Feedback will inform HVM Catapult’s long-term strategy and wider discussions on strengthening domestic manufacturing capability, accelerating industrial growth and maximising the value of future nuclear investment.
NATO IS FAILING UKRAINE
Ukraine has received up to $470 billion in combined aid and lending since the war started.
In 2021, Ukraine’s gross domestic product, the total economic output produced in the country during that one year, was $200 billion.
AT THE ANKARA SUMMIT, LEADERS SHOULD GET BEHIND PEACE (BUT PROBABLY WON’T)
Jul 07, 2026I, ,an Proud, https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/nato-is-failing-ukraine?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3221990&post_id=205725934&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
NATO is destroying Ukraine by funnelling money into it for a war against Russia that cannot be won.
Every mutli-billion commitment of financial and military assistance to Ukraine is another nail in Ukraine’s coffin.
At the Ankara Summit, NATO leaders should get behind peace in Ukraine, recognising that when the war ends, Ukraine will emerge much weaker than before the war started.
NATO leaders need to own their own failure, and yet I fear they won’t.
Rather, they will continue with more of the same, rendering Ukraine’s death even more painful.
There is a saying that wars are won by economies not armies.
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Ukraine has received up to $470 billion in combined aid and lending since the war started.
In 2021, Ukraine’s gross domestic product, the total economic output produced in the country during that one year, was $200 billion.
So, over the course of four and a half years of war, Ukraine has received aid greater than twice the value of its GDP before the war started, and yet Ukraine’s GDP in 2025 was measured by the World Bank at $213 billion, a rise of just 6.5% since the war started.
The money provided by the west has largely been wasted.
The reason it has been wasted, is that had the war finished in April 2022 after the agreement of a framework peace deal in Istanbul, the vast majority of this money would not have been spent. If the war had ended, and just a proportion of that western funding been spent on developing Ukraine’s economy, the country would be in a far stronger position today.
$470 billion literally amounts to killing Ukraine with fake kindness.
Let’s take a moment to consider that.
Most of that money has been tipped into the coffers of Ukraine’s government and military rather than into the real economy.
Ukraine’s government spending in 2021 was $67.6 billion.
Ukraine’s government spending in 2025 was $134 billion, twice as high as in 2021.
Ukraine’s industrial production is at 74% of its prewar level, in particular in heavy industry, especially basic chemicals (42.8% of pre-war levels), metals (44.5%), mining (39.1%) and refined products (21.8%). And it simply won’t get some of this back, as certain facilities and mines have fallen under Russian control in the Donbas.
Russia’s industrial production has continued to grow, and it 48-53% higher than in 2021 before the war started.
Ukraine invested $10bn less into its economy in 2025 compared to 2021, a drop of 38%.
Investment in Russia’s economy has grown from 23% to over 26% of GDP.
Ukraine’s economy has been hollowed out by war
Ukraine’s debt as a percentage of GDP has surged from 49% in 2021 to an estimated 110% this year.
Russia’s debt to GDP remains below 20%, a slight rise since the war started when it was 14% of GDP.
And the kicker is this, the vast amount of government spending is propped up by loans and donations from western nations which has consistently accounted for around half of all government spending.
And the problems extend beyond the economic.
The population inside of Ukraine has fallen by 25-30%, largely down to mass emigration, together with battlefield losses.
Russia’s population by contrast has seen a modest decline of 0.3-0.5% and is now almost five times larger than Ukraine’s population.
Ukraine’s birthrate has fallen by 38% – 105,000 fewer babies arrived in 2025 compared to 2021. The average birthrate per woman has now fallen to below 1.
Russia produced 1 million more babies in 2025 and it’s fertility rate, while low (1.378) is still significantly higher than in Ukraine.
I person in 3 inside of Ukraine today is a pensioner. For every employed worker there is one pensioner. In the UK, as a comparison, there are 2.6 workers per pensioner and in Russia 1.7-1.8.
When the war ends, there will be huge pressure in western nations to reduce their financial commitments.
That could see a brutal write down in the size of Ukraine’s GDP. If the Ukraine government reduced its spending to pre-war level, that would amount to a sudden drop of 30% in GDP.
Of course, that scale of drop won’t happen, as it will take some time to demobilise its army.
Ukraine will simply not be able to afford to pay for a military of 1 million personnel without further loans from the west. So will have to drive down military costs over time.
They will find that they have a disgruntled veteran class, resentful that a military success was offered by not delivered at a cost of 2.4 million killed and injured so far.
But, for the first time, Ukraine will have its economic fortunes in its hands.
If it chose to, it could do a massive debt restructuring and reopen itself to borrowing on the international markets, having been cut off of international borrowing since the war began.
It would almost certainly see a flood of foreign investment from western nations to rebuild its shattered cities and infrastructure.
It could start the process of weaning itself off of imports and reboot its exports, recognising that it has lost some of its valuable coal exports from the loss of territory.
However, it’s far from guaranteed that Ukraine would return to its prewar population, possibly ever, nor repair its catastrophic demographic crisis, as birthrates were already very low before the war started, at just 1.22 babies per woman.
So, the economic future for Ukraine looks bleak. It will have taken a permanent deadweight loss to its economic potential whenever the war ends.
An economy that is significantly smaller when the war ends compared to before it started. A population that is smaller and not reproducing itself.
However, what should be blindingly obvious is that the economic numbers will continue to get much worse for Ukraine for as long as the war continues.
Ukraine’s deficit of exports over imports will grow.
Industrial production will remain depressed and possibly fall further if Russia paints out Donetsk
Investment in Ukraine’s real economy will continue to slide
Ukraine’s massive debt burden will pile up further.
It is impossible to imagine that Ukraine will have cleaned up its grotesque levels of corruption if the war continues and billions of foreign money continues to pour in. That’s not to say that Russia doesn’t have a corruption problem too, of course. But the difference is, we are sending the billions to Ukraine for Zelensky’s cronies to pilfer.
Ukraine’s population will continue to decline
It will produce fewer babies and move to having more pensioners than workers.
There is no way to reverse any of these trends for as long as the war continues.
The $470 billion that western nations have tipped into Ukraine has been wasted.
And all for what?
What are the factors driving on NATO to keep Ukraine fighting?
The first, is the mistaken view that NATO can use a much smaller economically more fragile country like Ukraine as a battering ram to shatter Russia and inflict a strategic defeat that would topple the Putin government.
All of this is cloaked under the excuse that Ukraine should have the right to choose which military bloc is joins. However, in 2014 before the Ukraine crisis started, a majority of Ukrainians did not support joining NATO, as opposed to the EU, where attitudes were finely balanced in 2013 prior to the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit.
For those Ukrainians that did want to join the EU, their choice was soon labelled as a Euro-Atlantic, rather than a European choice after the unconstitutional removal of Viktor Yanukovych as President in February 2014.
The Ukraine crisis has always been about NATO membership.
Whenever efforts were made to broker peace, most notably after the Minsk II Agreement in February 2015 or the Istanbul talks in April 22 after the war started, those efforts were derailed by the Americans, with the help of the British.
And, as it turns out, even though the Europeans have become the major funders of the war in Ukraine since Trump came to power, it is now completely obvious that Ukrainian membership of the EU is further away than it has ever been, not least because of the boorish antics of Zelensky on the world stage, typified by his turning Poland into an irritant after his glorification of World War II Nazi collaborators. Zelensky has variously generated bad blood with other EU nations that he will rely on to obtain EU membership for his country, driven by his towering sense of entitlement and lack of self-awareness.
While I’ve always supported the theory of EU membership for Ukraine, the practice has become more complicated by the continuation of war. Important reforms in Ukraine have not been undertaken or have been held back.
So, the very point of the Maidan movement – if there was ever a point before it was hijacked by Ukrainian ultra-nationalists – has been betrayed by12 years of conflict and now war which has revealed that the true purpose of western sponsors has been to incorporate Ukraine into a military bloc, that not just Putin, but several esteemed western diplomats like Kennan and Matlock, has been saying for at least twenty years was a red line for Russia.
And yet, here was are, on the verge of another NATO summit in which cardboard cutouts like Mark Rutte will continue to insist that Ukraine is part of the NATO family. Further commitments will be made to funnel even more billions in aid into Ukraine to help Zelensky inflict a strategic defeat on Russia that will never happen.
NATO leaders won’t take the cue to end the war. There are just too many vested interests in the west to allow that to happen.
That Zelensky is attending the summit won’t help. He will persuade western leaders – who seem completely unable to say no to him – that they need to let him strike further and further into Russia to inflict pain on Russia’s economy.
And yet, every Ukrainian strike will self-evidently yield another massive retaliation from Russia that heaps suffering on ordinary Ukrainian people.
It won’t change the massive economic and demographic advantages that Russia has over Ukraine and will always have.
It will just prolong the war.
Western mainstream media and politicians are bitterly opposed to ending the war too.
They will trot out the usual tropes.
Russia’s economy is about to implode – it isn’t and I’ve been hearing this for 12 years including while I was in Moscow. Look at the numbers. Ukraine’s economy is in real trouble.
Russian people are turning against Putin because of gasoline shortages in some cities including Moscow. Yes, Russian people are tired of war and Putin has seen a reduction in his popularity, though at 67% it is far higher than anything western leaders enjoy. There is no evidence that Russian people are going to take to the streets to topple Putin. Indeed, Ukraine’s people have suffered far more from the destruction of energy and heating infrastructure during bitter winters. The inconvenience suffered by ordinary Russians is very small in comparison, although that doesn’t mean it isn’t impacting Russia’s domestic politics. The point is, it will never be enough to shift the dial, compared to the significantly greater cost Russia can impose on Ukraine.
Russia is finding it harder to recruit troops to the frontline. This is the worst misinformation of all. Yes, Russia has taken heavy casualties in the war although all the evidence points to Ukraine taking far higher casualties from a smaller population. Body swaps numbers are not a perfect comparator, but on every occasion Ukraine receives at least ten times more bodies than it returns to Russia. And, in any case, every body – Ukrainian or Russian – is a person whose life has been snuffed out by this pointless war.
Russia has avoided a general mobilisation whereas every day there are videos emerging of violent forced mobilisation – busification – of Ukrainian men to be sent to the meat grinder.
Zelensky is the leader of the free world. Utter claptrap. He is a corrupt dictator who absolutely refuses to listen to any advice and will carry on regardless, whatever injury he causes his own country, so long as the west keeps sending him money. Politicians are human and he is no different, I am sad to say. He will not be President of Ukraine after the war ends if fair elections are held. Everyone can see this except the western press. Zelensky biggest challenge when the war ends will be to stay alive, let along to stay inside of Ukraine.
Putin is going to die at any minute. Come on, I’ve been hearing this for twelve years.
Any attempt to get behind a peace settlement will be turned upon by the blob who cry that we are selling out Ukraine and are giving a gift to Putin.
But I am sick and tired of hearing this bullshit. The biggest gift to Putin is to keep the war going on and watch Europe disintegrate politically and economically.
But the only way to secure peace with Russia is through force. Utter nonsense.
Sure, Putin would probably prefer peace now. And, it has always been my impression, that Russia wants to have normal relations with Europe and, in fact, with Ukraine.
But he will not do that under the threat of NATO expansion and has been saying this for over two decades.
So, if NATO leaders want to keep helping Zelensky fight to the last Ukrainian it will be a disgraceful betrayal of the Ukrainian people and of the people of Europe who face a growing threat of general war and all the misery that would ensure, which ordinary Ukrainian people have suffered for four and a half years already.
Zelensky is killing his own country. NATO is helping him do it. We are led by idiots in the west. It’s time to end this nonsense now.
Scotland could freeze datacentre projects in challenge to UK’s AI strategy
Scottish government to consider SNP national council motion for moratorium on all new datacentres
The Scottish government is about to consider a sweeping moratorium on building new datacentres, putting a key plank of the UK’s AI strategy at risk.
Last Sunday the Scottish National party (SNP)’s national council passed a motion to freeze all new datacentres in Scotland. That motion has been sent to the Scottish government to consider.
It could apply to all datacentre projects that have not yet received planning permission – although its exact implementation is up to the Scottish government to decide.
Lesley Backhouse, a local councillor from one of the constituencies that put forward the motion, said that Scotland’s current datacentre plans amounted to “overdevelopment” and were “intrusive and not keeping with the local environment”.
The move emerged as the Guardian on Monday revealed how the developer and the UK government misrepresented the technical feasibility of a massive datacentre hub in Scotland in the face of community fears that their land would be subsumed by the development, and promised jobs and investments would never materialise.
This site, in Lanarkshire, was to be an “AI growth zone”, a key element of the government’s strategy to build national AI infrastructure in rural areas of Britain.
The SNP’s resolution came amid signs of a wider upheaval in the UK’s AI strategy as Andy Burnham prepares to replace Keir Starmer in Downing Street. He is reportedly considering a review of several critical planks of Starmer’s technology policy.
The Guardian previously reported that an “AI growth zone” in North Tyneside was more of a publicity stunt than a viable project, despite being supposedly backed by the maker of ChatGPT, OpenAI. Several other big UK AI projects have been found to be “phantom investments” after the government failed to audit investment numbers or jobs claims.
“I don’t think anyone is arguing that we should not have any datacentres in the UK or Scotland,” said Graham Simpson, a member of the Scottish parliament representing North Lanarkshire.
“But there needs to be a proper piece of work at the government level to decide how many the country needs and what is our capacity for them, in terms of our resources.”
A moratorium on datacentres in Scotland could strike at the heart of the UK’s wider AI strategy. British officials have pushed Scotland as the prime location for datacentres due to its access to plentiful renewable energy. The SNP’s resolution could halt projects such as the Lanarkshire AI growth zone.
The SNP resolution suggests that the number of massive datacentres planned in Scotland could overwhelm its renewables capacity.
It says there are 24 “hyperscale” datacentre projects in various stages of planning in Scotland. Combined, they would use more than one-and-a-half times the power Scotland uses at peak demand.
“It is extreme overdevelopment. I’m very supportive of the local community and their endeavours to prevent this from happening,” said Backhouse.
Meanwhile, the chair of the Commons science and technology select committee, Chi Onwurah, on Monday criticised the UK’s broader AI investment strategy, saying that without a proper plan for achieving sovereignty it has been “very opportunistic”.
UK Government scraps public consultation on data centres and major infrastructure projects
Scrapping mandatory pre-application consultation requirements for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects will “disenfranchise” locals and “embed resentment”, experts say. Christine Murray reports
Christine Murray, Editor-in-Chief of The Developer and Director of the Festival of Place 03/07/26, https://www.thedeveloper.live/reportage/government-scraps-public-consultation-on-data-centres-and-major-infrastructure-projects
Just days after hundreds of people gathered near Great Torrington to oppose a £13bn data centre and battery energy storage project in the North Devon UNESCdata centre and battery energy storage project in the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere, the government has announced it is scrapping mandatory public consultation for major infrastructure projects including data centres, wind, solar, reservoirs and nuclear plants.
The changes confirmed on Friday will come into effect later this month on 24 July, before the completion of a government inquiry into the sustainability of data centres in the UK.
re-application consultation requirements for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects will be replaced by “earlier technical support and meaningful advice from the Planning Inspectorate before applications are submitted” through a redesigned pre-application service for developers.
The changes are delivered in the Planning and Infrastructure Act which also places limits on legal challenges to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
The news comes amidst calls for increased scrutiny of AI growth zone plans with concern that developers are misrepresenting their plans and making misleading claims about data centres. The government has announced five AI growth zones including sites in Lanarkshire and North Tyneside.
Oral evidence presented to the Environmental Audit Committee for the government’s data centre inquiry has already highlighted that local people don’t feel sufficiently heard in the planning process and that claims being made about the job creation may be misleading.
Presenting evidence on 10 June, Oliver Hayes, Head of Policy at Global Act Plan said: “The jobs benefits really don’t seem to be what the developers are claiming.”
“The data centre in Blythe, Northumberland… said this would lead to 4,000 jobs and the slightest bit of interrogation drew an admission that this actually would be 100 jobs. This is a £10bn investment in Blythe and that means you’re getting 1 job for every £100m pounds.”
“This change is essential given the need to build our own resilience in places across the country in an increasingly uncertain world”
Just days after hundreds of people gathered near Great Torrington to oppose a £13bn data centre and battery energy storage project in the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere, the government has announced it is scrapping mandatory public consultation for major infrastructure projects including data centres, wind, solar, reservoirs and nuclear plants.
The changes confirmed on Friday will come into effect later this month on 24 July, before the completion of a government inquiry into the sustainability of data centres in the UK.
Pre-application consultation requirements for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects will be replaced by “earlier technical support and meaningful advice from the Planning Inspectorate before applications are submitted” through a redesigned pre-application service for developers.
The changes are delivered in the Planning and Infrastructure Act which also places limits on legal challenges to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
The news comes amidst calls for increased scrutiny of AI growth zone plans with concern that developers are misrepresenting their plans and making misleading claims about data centres.
The government has announced five AI growth zones including sites in Lanarkshire and North Tyneside.
Oral evidence presented to the Environmental Audit Committee for the government’s data centre inquiry has already highlighted that local people don’t feel sufficiently heard in the planning process and that claims being made about the job creation may be misleading.
Presenting evidence on 10 June, Oliver Hayes, Head of Policy at Global Act Plan said: “The jobs benefits really don’t seem to be what the developers are claiming.”
“The data centre in Blythe, Northumberland… said this would lead to 4,000 jobs and the slightest bit of interrogation drew an admission that this actually would be 100 jobs. This is a £10bn investment in Blythe and that means you’re getting 1 job for every £100m pounds.”
“This change is essential given the need to build our own resilience in places across the country in an increasingly uncertain world”
Internal correspondence obtained by The Guardian showed the government and developers of the £82bn AI data centre complex in Lanarkshire knew they would not be delivering new on-site renewable energy infrastructure even as they promised it to the public. Instead the data centre will connect to the grid. With an average 8-10 year wait for a grid connection, prioritising data centres could potentially delay electricity for housing developments.
The Scottish government is considering a moratorium on building new data centres, which would affect all data centres that have not yet won planning, as reported by The Guardian.
Fergus Charlton, planning partner with national law firm Michelmores is concerned about the removal of mandatory public consultation: “Cutting the ability of the public at large and more importantly the local inhabitants – with their special connections to the land and knowledge of their milieu – to inform the design of nationally important infrastructure will further disenfranchise them from the planning process leading to embedded resentment to the system as a whole and the proposed development in particular.
The existing consultation requirements for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects does place a burden on the developer, but it helps strike a fair balance for the local community engaging in an infrastructure planning system that greatly favours the developer,” says Charlton.
“Local residents are getting very concerned and are feeling like they’re not able to participate in that planning process and not able to have their voices heard,” said Hayes. “I think that is a big risk for government.”
“There needs to be real interrogation of what it means to be living in AI growth zones and less of a laissez-faire approach,” Hayes said.
The government claims cutting consultation will speed up planning applications by as much as 12 months and that infrastructure projects will enter the pipeline at a faster rate.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed said: “Our reforms will get work started quicker on wind farms, solar panels and transport links to connect our communities and grow our economy.”
Energy Minister Michael Shanks said: “Britain cannot afford to wait years for the clean energy infrastructure needed to strengthen our energy security and grow the economy.”
The government says that data centres can opt into the National Significant Infrastructure Projects with three data centre proposals being included: Wapseys Wood in Buckinhamshire, Ampthill Road in Bedford and New Barn Lane in Dartford.
The government says it will encourage the earlier submission of Local Impact Reports alongside relevant representations.
SNP call for temporary ban on AI data centre developments.
THE SNP are set to back calls for a temporary ban on AI data centre
developments, The National can reveal. It comes after months of community
protest against proposed sites across the country, as well as pushback from
several MSPs from various parties. The SNP will now join the Scottish
Greens in calling for a Scottish Government-led moratorium on AI data
centre developments after a vote of the party’s National Council, a key
decision-making body in the party’s organisation.
The two parties hold a
clear majority in Holyrood, so if a moratorium is formally proposed by
either party it would likely pass, especially as figures from Labour, the
LibDems, Conservatives and Reform UK have all raised concerns about data
centre projects in their areas. However, it could be challenged on a point
of law from the developers.
The National 6th July 2026, https://www.thenational.scot/news/26257080.snp-call-temporary-ban-ai-data-centre-developments/
Wildfire in southern France forces evacuation of 10,000 people
Neil Murphy
A wildfire has forced the evacuation of thousands of people in southern
France as the country grapples with the impacts of an early summer heatwave
that scorched much of Europe. More than 10,000 people have been ordered to
leave more than a dozen small towns and villages in the foothills of the
French Pyrenees, near the border with Spain. The fire, located in
Trévillach near Perpignan, has burned at least 4,600 hectares (11,366
acres), local prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe said in a post on X.
BBC 6th July 2026, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlwweye9glo
1 This Month
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