Weatherwatch: sage advice 50-odd years ago on UK nuclear power still relevant
Ministers might care to heed conclusions of 1976 Flowers report before they go ahead with latest energy policy plans
Paul Brown, 25 Apr 25, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/apr/25/weatherwatch-sage-advice-50-odd-years-ago-on-uk-nuclear-power-still-relevant
Gathering dust somewhere in Whitehall is the 1976 royal commission’s sixth report on environmental pollution, known afterwards as the Flowers report after its chair, Sir Brian Flowers. It dealt with the future of the nuclear industry, warning about the dangers of producing large quantities of plutonium amid fears of potential threats from terrorists. The report particularly emphasised the pressing need to find a way of disposing of nuclear waste and recommended there should be no great expansion of nuclear power until a satisfactory way had been found of disposing of it.
The report was written before climate change and the current extremes of weather were of public concern, but the commission was exercised by the pressing need to increase the electricity supply. The report did not rule out the expansion of nuclear power but urged the government to look at wave power and other renewables as much more desirable alternatives.
Fast-forward almost half a century and the UK is still no nearer to dealing with its ever increasing pile of nuclear waste, costing billions every year just to keep safe. However, the Flowers commission would be delighted that wind, solar and other renewables have largely replaced nuclear power, and be puzzled that the government seems poised to ignore sage advice and expand nuclear energy again.
Tankers travel from Alton Water to Sizewell C every day
Tankers full of water are travelling 30 miles up the A12 and B1122 to keep Sizewell C’s offices topped up because the local water company cannot cope with demand.
Essex and Suffolk Water is the company that supplies the north
east of the county – and it has long been known that it has problems in
coping with increasing demand. The company is operating at near capacity –
and this problem has forced some development or expansion plans in the area
to be cancelled or postponed. It is not able to supply water to the offices
that have been built at Sizewell so a temporary deal has been signed with
Anglian Water to bring in supplies.
Ipswich Star 25th April 2025,
https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/25110191.tankers-travel-alton-water-sizewell-c-every-day/
Scottish nuclear plant emptied of fuel as UK winds down ageing gas-cooled reactors.
the cost of decommissioning should be taken into
account when the government decided on new nuclear plants as “no scheme can be guaranteed to meet a cost more than a century into the future”.
The first of the UK’s seven advanced gas-cooled reactor nuclear power
stations has been emptied of fuel, kick-starting a decommissioning process
that will cost at least £27bn in total and take almost a century.
EDF said on Thursday it had defuelled Hunterston B, on the west coast of Scotland,
paving the way for the transfer of the site and 250 staff from the French
power company to the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority next April. The
site provided most of Scotland’s energy for more than 40 years from its
launch in 1976 until its final closure in 2022.
EDF owns seven advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) plants in the UK, which were built between the 1960s and 1980s and differ from newer nuclear plants that use water for
cooling. Just four are still operating.
The uranium fuel has been packaged
into 350 large flasks, which will be stored by the NDA at the Sellafield
nuclear site in Cumbria for at least 50 years until a longer-term
underground facility has been built.
Although the process took just three
years and £400mn, it will take almost a century to eradicate the radiation
from the land and buildings, EDF has said. The decommissioning of the seven
AGRs is separate to a much wider £105bn decommissioning programme, which
will cover an additional 17 closed nuclear sites over the next 120 years,
according to the NDA.
The closures will leave the UK with just one nuclear
power plant still running by 2030 — Sizewell B in Suffolk, which is also
managed by EDF and uses a pressurised water reactor. The NDA said it was
“acutely aware of the costs associated with delivering our mission”.
The cost of decommissioning nuclear power plants is under scrutiny as the
UK presses ahead with new nuclear projects, including the £40bn Sizewell
C, which is expected to get government go-ahead this spring, and the £46bn
Hinkley Point C, which is still under construction and will open by 2030 at
the earliest.
Steve Thomas, emeritus professor of energy policy at
Greenwich university, said the cost of decommissioning should be taken into
account when the government decided on new nuclear plants as “no scheme
can be guaranteed to meet a cost more than a century into the future”.
Although EDF has owned Hunterston B and the seven other AGR nuclear plants
since 2009, the cost of decommissioning is being paid for through the
ringfenced Nuclear Liabilities Fund (NLF), which was set up in 1996 after
privatisation and is valued at £20.6bn. Decommissioning costs have soared
over the past three decades, with the fund requiring cash injections from
the Treasury, including £5bn in July 2020 and a further £5.6bn in March
2022, according to the NLF.
FT 24th April 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/c31af2d6-eeaa-4a3d-a2c0-81c63b29cb1d
EDF’s two nuclear plants in Britain should be negotiated as one, French minister says.
Guy Taylor, Transport Reporter, 25 April 2025
EDF’s two nuclear construction schemes at Hinkley Point and Sizewell C should be treated as one financial venture in negotiations, according to France’s energy minister.
Marc Ferracci told the FT he had held discussions with the UK’s energy minister Ed Miliband at the sidelines of a conference in London on Thursday.
“France and EDF are very committed to deliver the projects but we have to find a way to accelerate them and we have to find a way to consolidate the financial schemes of both projects,” he said.
The French government has been pushing ministers in the UK to lend a hand with Hinkley Point’s floundering finances over the last year.
Costs on the nuclear project have risen to as high as £46bn and it argues EDF, the French state-owned energy firm, should not be forced to cover the overruns.
EDF’s equity stake in Sizewell C, a 3.2 gigawatt nuclear station on the Suffolk Coast, is smaller than Hinkley Point.
Ferracci denied that the French government was looking to use Sizewell as “leverage” against the financial troubles at Hinkley………………….. https://www.cityam.com/edfs-two-nuclear-plants-should-be-negotiated-as-one-french-minister-says/
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament will be shining a spotlight on theBritish government’s ongoing cover-up of plans for a US nuclear weapons deployment to Britain.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament will be shining a spotlight on the British government’s ongoing cover-up of plans for a US nuclear weapons deployment to Britain, during a blockade of the main gate of RAF Lakenheath on Saturday, 26 April.
Campaigners will be joined by ‘Donald Trump’ and ‘Keir Starmer’ along with replicas of the B61-12 guided nuclear bomb. CND activists are coming from across the country to take part in the blockade of the main gate of the base from 12 noon.
• Saturday, 26 April
• Blockade starts at 12 noon
• RAF Lakenheath Gate 1, Brandon Road, Suffolk, IP27 9PN
The blockade takes place on the final day of the Lakenheath Alliance for Peace* peace camp, which has seen a continuous presence of campaigners outside the main gate of the base since 14 April, as well as events highlighting Lakenheath’s role in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, the role of the military in climate breakdown, and NATO’s nuclear network in Europe.
The blockade comes as CND’s lawyers forced the Ministry of Defence to declassify a significant nationwide exemption certificate, issued in March 2021 by former Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, on the grounds of ‘national security’. The document shockingly exempts US Visiting Forces from adhering to British nuclear safety regulations at its bases across Britain, which includes RAF Lakenheath.
CND is calling on PM Keir Starmer to come clean about this cover-up and to publicly announce that US nuclear weapons will not be deployed to Britain.
CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt said:
“Trump’s reckless ‘America First’ agenda is increasing international tensions every day. Siting US nuclear bombs in Britain will put us on the frontline of any military confrontation. The British government needs to step back from its so-called ‘special relationship’ with the US and refuse to host these deadly bombs. The US has poured millions of dollars into upgrading the base in preparation for siting new nuclear bombs. Yet the government refuses to come clean.
“RAF Lakenheath has a history of near nuclear accidents which were covered up for decades. The best way to protect people in East Anglia and across the country is to not have nuclear weapons in the first place. With nuclear dangers on the rise, the presence of US nuclear weapons in Britain makes us a target in the event of a nuclear war – with catastrophic consequences. Any accidents involving a nuclear weapon would have a devastating environmental and humanitarian impact which no amount of drilling could prepare us for. CND is calling on everyone who is concerned about this to join us at the blockade on RAF Lakenheath’s main gate this Saturday, 26 April.”
‘I guarded Britain’s nuclear sites – our security can’t cope with new mini reactors’
mini reactors do not pose miniature hazards. “On security, size doesn’t matter. When it comes to the fuel and the byproducts, they are equally dangerous.”
“You get less energy, but you’re still going to have exactly the same security concerns,” says Okuhara. “How enthusiastic is a site operator going to be paying for security when that’s eating into their bottom line?”
INTERVIEW . Matthew Okuhara, a former armed officer with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, fears that current security plans will be inadequate to protect the UK’s next generation of nuclear power plants..
Rob Hastings, Special Projects Editor , April 22, 2025
Sometimes he would patrol rural lanes on foot, carrying his assault rifle, looking out for any terrorists hiding in the countryside. On other assignments he would man machine guns mounted on armoured ships, watching for any sign of hostile vessels coming his way. Or he would drive in weapons-laden road convoys, monitoring potential threats from vehicles.
While serving as an armed officer with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), Matt Okuhara saw every aspect of how the UK’s nuclear power stations and their radioactive fuel are protected from terrorists.
He spent years escorting the transport of uranium fuel to and from plants, which would be planned for months in advance. “Nuclear material is at its most vulnerable when it’s in transit,” he explains. “You’ve got to move it as secretly as possible.”
Working for the specialist force, Okuhara always felt confident the country’s civil nuclear programme was in safe hands. “Any threat has been detected long before it’s been able to cause any problems,” he says.
However, he believes the situation is “definitely more dangerous now” than when he was serving. Terrorism has become more advanced and there are new fears about so-called hybrid warfare from geopolitical adversaries including Russia.
“You don’t have to be a James Bond super-villain to realise where the vulnerable parts of a site are. You can just look on Google Maps and say, ‘We’ll attack that bit,’ especially now we’ve got drones. The threat has really shot up.”
With new technology also on the horizon, he believes the nuclear industry must face up to big security questions.
The CNC currently guards just a handful of sites, all in relatively remote locations. But experts believe the Government’s planned array of cutting-edge mini nuclear power stations could lead to a “proliferation” of reactors around the country, potentially much closer to towns and cities. This may also lead to their fuel being transported more often.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are seen as an essential source of green energy for the UK in decades to come. Proponents say they will be quicker and cheaper to build than conventional plants, because they will be largely prefabricated.
But security experts are worried about the complex implications for how SMRs will be policed and protected, as The i Paper revealed this week. Analysts say that thousands more armed officers would have to be recruited, co-ordination with local police would have to be strengthened, and a new national infrastructure force may even have to be created.
Okuhara shares these concerns. “I don’t think the CNC’s current policing model would be able to cope with any more sites,” he says. “The generating sites, they’re kept well away from the public for good reasons.
“One, they’re easier to protect. And two, if something goes wrong, the contingency engineers have got some space to work with.”
What is the Civil Nuclear Constabulary?
- The CNC is a specialist armed force with about 1,600 officers and staff. It was created in 2005 to guard civil nuclear sites and material.
- “The CNC will deter any attacker whose intent is the theft, sabotage or destruction of nuclear material, whether static or in transit, or the sabotage of high consequence facilities,” its web page explains.
- It adds: “If an attack occurs, CNC will defend that material and those facilities and deny access to them. If material is seized or high consequence facilities are compromised, the CNC will recover control of those facilities and regain custody of the material.”
New small reactors, same big risks
After fighting in the Iraq War with British infantry, Okuhara joined the CNC in 2006 and served for six years. He describes how he helped to protect Gloucestershire’s Oldbury Power Station – which is now undergoing decommissioning – in his new book, Nuclear Copper. “Based within the high metal fences and fortress-like security measures of the power station, there was a heavily armed police presence on duty at any given time,” he writes.
To deter and prevent terrorism, the team patrolled surrounding roads and villages, wearing body armour and carrying G36C assault rifles. They benefited from the rural location by building relationships with local farmers and villagers, who “could recognise an unfamiliar car or person instantly” and knew to inform officers.
Rules currently state that nuclear power stations can only be placed in “semi-urban” settings. A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero insists: “All new nuclear projects, including SMRs, are prevented from being built in densely populated areas.” The Government is loosening restrictions on them being built in the countryside.
But a majority of industry figures believe that “new nuclear technologies could be safely located closer to densely populated areas,” according to an official consultation paper.
The Whitehall document says that the semi-urban restriction will be reviewed every five years “to ensure it remains relevant and effective,” and the Government is “open to revising” this rule in future……………………….
The nuclear industry argues that SMRs will be small enough to build in urban settings, but Okuhara argues this would rob officers of a key advantage. “An intervention zone around a site gives you plenty of space where you can detect things,” he explains.
And he underlines that mini reactors do not pose miniature hazards. “On security, size doesn’t matter. When it comes to the fuel and the byproducts, they are equally dangerous.”
At the moment, energy companies cover much of the CNC’s costs. But having many smaller sites is likely to make security operations proportionately more expensive.
He continues: “If you think about the largest sites in the UK, places like Sellafield or Dounreay, they’ve got hundreds of officers. There are plenty of people out on patrol. Are these SMRs going to be given sufficient resources? Or are the companies going to be saying: ‘It’s a small reactor, we don’t need as many bodies on the ground’?”
The Government offers reassurance that any SMR will “need to have the highest levels of security in place.” A spokesperson said: “All operators are answerable to a robust and independent regulator – the Office for Nuclear Regulation – which must approve their security plan covering physical, personnel and cyber security.” The CNC declined to comment.
Vetting failures
If potentially thousands more armed officers must be recruited to guard SMRs, the CNC must improve its vetting procedures. That much is clear because of one man: Wayne Couzens.
Couzens’ name became infamous after he raped and murdered Sarah Everard in Surrey in 2021, having used his Metropolitan Police ID to falsely arrest her.
Couzens had previously been an authorised firearms officer with the CNC, serving at Sellafield and Dungeness. He had passed the CNC’s vetting procedures in 2011 despite previously being accused of numerous sexual offences, including harassment, assault and indecent exposure. He transferred to the Met in 2018.
The CNC’s Chief Constable, Simon Chesterman, apologised “unreservedly” on behalf of the force in 2024, “for the part CNC played in his entry as a full-time police officer.”………………………………………………
No matter whether they’re protecting groundbreaking SMRs, or conventional nuclear sites, or convoys of radioactive fuel, “every officer in the CNC should have the top level of vetting,” he says. “They’ve got access to firearms. They can access some of the most toxic material that has ever existed.”
It’s a reminder that when it comes to nuclear security, sometimes the biggest threats can come from insiders.
‘Nuclear Copper: The Secret World of Nuclear Policing’ by Matt Okuhara is out now (£22.99, Amberley Publishing) @robhastings.bsky.social https://inews.co.uk/news/crime/i-guarded-britains-nuclear-sites-security-mini-reactors-3649782
Nuclear Free Local Authorities sign letter asking leading banks to back our planet not the bomb!
The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have endorsed an Open Letter
calling on five major banks to divest from nuclear weapons. The letter was
drafted by activists at Medact as the next action in their Don’t Bank on
the Bomb UK campaign. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Standard
Chartered have provided $30.5 billion to the nuclear weapons industry. For
the survival of humanity and the planet, the elimination of nuclear weapons
and prevention of their use is an urgent priority. This letter calls on the
five banks to stop choosing profit over people and end financing nuclear
weapons.
NFLA 22nd April 2025, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nflas-sign-letter-asking-leading-banks-to-back-our-planet-not-the-bomb/
Miliband explores cut-price clean-up of Britain’s deadliest nuclear waste.
The UK’s massive nuclear waste stockpile includes 110,000 tonnes of uranium, 6,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuels and about 120 tonnes of plutonium – mostly stored at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria in decaying containers and ageing buildings.
Space equivalent to eight Royal Albert Halls is required to dispose of highly toxic substances.
Ed Miliband is backing a cut-price clean-up of
the UK’s growing nuclear waste mountain. The Energy Secretary’s plans
involve highly radioactive used fuel rods being dropped into holes drilled
deep into the Earth’s crust.
The experimental approach, pioneered by Deep
Isolation, an American company, is being funded by the Department for
Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz), which is helping develop the
toughened canisters needed to contain the deadly waste. If it works, the
method could offer a faster and cheaper way of dealing with the hundreds of
tonnes of high-level radioactive waste accumulated by the UK over the last
seven decades and the new waste generated by future reactors like Hinkley
Point C, under construction in Somerset.
The solution will see used fuel
rods from nuclear reactors placed into steel cylinders designed to fit into
boreholes drilled thousands of feet into deep rock formations. The UK’s
massive nuclear waste stockpile includes 110,000 tonnes of uranium, 6,000
tonnes of spent nuclear fuels and about 120 tonnes of plutonium – mostly
stored at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria in decaying containers and
ageing buildings. UK Government Investments warned in its annual report
that the cost of “nuclear decommissioning threatens the Government’s
finances due to its inherent uncertainty.” The Office for Budget
Responsibility has issued similar warnings. A key problem for the UK is
that, despite decades of trying, it still has no way of permanently storing
nuclear waste. The current plan is to excavate a network of caverns under
the sea, filling them with nuclear waste and then sealing them with cement.
However, work is not expected to start till at least 2050 and will take
decades to complete. Deep boreholes could offer a faster and cheaper
solution for at least some of the waste. Under the Deep Isolation scheme,
boreholes would be drilled into rock using technology first developed by
the oil and gas industry for “fracking”.
Telegraph 21st April 2025,
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/21/miliband-cut-price-clean-up-deadliest-nuclear-waste/
Framatome awarded backup power and remote sensing Sizewell C contract
Framatome has been awarded a contract to provide conventional field
instrumentation (CFI) and emergency backup power generation capacity to
Sizewell C. The company is 80.5% owned by EDF – a French state-owned
company, which is the minority owner of Sizewell C. The remaining 19.5% of
Framatome is owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The UK Government is
currently the majority owner of Sizewell C, which has sunk £6.4bn of
taxpayer cash into the project. Sizewell C has not yet achieved a final
investment decision (FID), which is a requirement before main construction
can take place. Framatome will be supplying “ultimate diesel
generators” which will be “controlled by Framatome’s digital control
systems”, according to a statement from the company. Ultimate diesel
generators provide emergency backup power capacity to nuclear power
stations in the event that grid power becomes unavailable.
New Civil Engineer 22nd April 2025
https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/framatome-awarded-backup-power-and-remote-sensing-sizewell-c-contract-22-04-2025/
Nuclear Free Local Authorities express support for Democracy Day at USAF Lakenheath
The NFLAs have sent a message of solidarity and support to the organisers
of the Peace Camp at RAF / USAF Lakenheath for Democracy Day being hosted
today. The Lakenheath Alliance for Peace has kept up a 24/7 vigil at the
gates of the airbase since 14th April. LAP consists of 59 organisations,
including the NFLAs, who are opposed to the siting of US nuclear weapons at
the base and campaign in favour of nuclear disarmament. Although notionally
an RAF station, Lakenheath is really the largest US airbase in the UK
hosting the 48th ‘Liberty’ Fighter Wing of around 6,000 personnel and
F-15C/D Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle, and F-35A Lightning II fighter bomber
aircraft. From 1954 until 2008, the station held nuclear weapons in its
inventory. Now there are plans to reintroduce them.
NFLA 22nd April 2025, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nflas-express-support-for-democracy-day-at-usaf-lakenheath/
Nuclear Free Local Authorities call for more NGO cash and solar panels on Sellafield nuke plant.
Responding to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s consultation on its latest three-year draft Business Plan (2025 – 8), the NFLAs have made modest calls for more cash for nuclear groups engaged in stakeholder consultation and for Sellafield to install solar panels to reduce electricity use.
Reiterating a request made forcefully by the NFLA Secretary to last year’s NDA Stakeholder Summit, we once more requested financial support for non-government organisations engaged in stakeholder dialogue. At present, a wide range of NGOs are represented on two Forums, one generalist, but the other specialising in examining the challenges attendant to the Geological Disposal Facility. Delegates invited to in-person Forum meetings or other events have historically had expenses reimbursed but have never received an honorarium. At the last Stakeholder Summit, NGO participants were refused reimbursement of travel costs and, facing the possibility of being substantially out of pocket, attendance declined. By way of pushback, we stated in our response: ‘If the NDA truly valued stakeholder consultation it would set out in this Business Plan a commitment to provide some financial support to the NGO community.’
The NFLAs have also made an appeal for GDF Community Partnerships to be granted cash and autonomy to commission third-party independent research and advice. At present, Nuclear Waste Services has a tight hold on the purse-strings and any request for information initiated by GDF panel members is vetted by NWS who draw on NDA group resources or go to other approved external sources.
In the second core strand of our response, we returned to a past aspiration – that the NDA generate ‘an increasing proportion of the energy that it consumes in the course of its work from installing renewable energy technologies on its estate’. Sellafield places great demands on the national grid; the business may have made a great play on replacing its carbon-guzzling shunting locomotives with electric ones, yet, on a recent visit, the NFLA Secretary saw that there was currently zero renewable electricity generation on site. There are a huge number of buildings, many of which will not be decommissioned and demolished for decades, so there must be possible to install solar panels on many of them. The NDA also has significant land holdings around Sellafield that could accommodate wind turbines.
No Joke: US considering nuclear power for Saudi in grand bargain
Surprise — the Trump team’s latest bid for Saudi-Israel normalization goes way too far and appears to be a one-way street.
Ivan Eland, Apr 21, 2025, https://responsiblestatecraft.org/no-joke-us-considering-nuclear-power-for-saudi-in-grand-bargain/
The Trump administration is reportedly pursuing a deal with Saudi Arabia that would be a pathway to developing a commercial nuclear power industry in the desert kingdom and maybe even lead to the enrichment of uranium on Saudi soil.
U.S. pursuit of this deal should be scrapped because the United States would bear all the increased commitments, costs, and risks with very little in return.
In the Abraham Accords of 2020 and early 2021, the first Trump administration brokered bilateral agreements between Israel and the Middle Eastern countries of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan to normalize diplomatic relations. The administration also attempted to get Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel as a sovereign state and open similar relations, to no avail.
The Biden administration carried the torch in this regard but it became even more difficult to get Riyadh on board after the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and ensuing war in Gaza. The rising civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis led to an elevation of the Palestinian cause and engendered region-wide animosity toward Israel. The Saudis demanded at that point that Israel commit to meaningful steps toward the creation of an independent Palestinian state before any normalization would occur.
That continued into this year as the Saudi government denied President Donald Trump’s assertion that it had dropped its demand for a Palestinian state in order to normalize relations with Israel.
Even though efforts aimed at ending the war in Gaza have been unsuccessful, the second Trump administration is seemingly now reviving its efforts toward brokering an Israel-Saudi rapprochement, albeit beginning with a new U.S.-Saudi agreement first, as hinted by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.
The problem is that all the countries would benefit from such a grand bargain except the one brokering it — the United States, which would also absorb all of the costs. Israel and Saudi Arabia would gain the most. The Saudis have desperately wanted a nuclear power deal for some time. Meanwhile, if there is eventual normalization, Israel would neutralize what is now a powerful Arab rival and likely even gain a new ally in its quest to counter Iran (but it had better do it fast as Riyadh and Tehran have been approaching some level of detente for some time now).
Saudi Arabia has also sought formal security guarantees, which were reportedly on the table during the Biden administration. This would supplant the long-standing informal agreement between President Franklin Roosevelt and Saudi King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, which provided security for the desert kingdom in exchange for U.S. access to cheap oil supplies.
Yet, with a $37 trillion national debt, why would the United States take on another ward that doesn’t pay its fair share for security (a common Trump gripe about other U.S. allies)? With fracking, the United States is no longer running out of oil, as FDR assumed would be the case, and is again the world’s largest oil producer. A formal defense pact with Saudi Arabia would incur yet more costs, further entrench the U.S. in the region, and put our own troops in harm’s way if Washington is expected to defend and bail out Riyadh in any military dispute with its neighbors.
In addition, what could go wrong if Saudi Arabia was given a nuclear program? Talks on an Israel-Saudi agreement previously faltered when the Saudis opposed restrictions that would have prevented them from using a commercial nuclear program to build nuclear weapons (to counter any Iranian nuclear capability), or to assist other countries in obtaining them.
The truth is, the Saudis have wanted to be able to enrich uranium — perhaps to bomb-grade levels — on their own soil rather than import uranium already enriched only to a level capable of generating commercial energy, for some time.
Some in the United States insist that the Saudis could get nuclear technology from other nations like Russia or China, but if they resist safeguards to prevent them from getting a weapon, then it wouldn’t matter who gave them the technology that would allow them to do it.
Thus, the Trump administration should desist in reaching any such agreement with the Saudis in its (right now) futile quest for Israel-Saudi grand rapprochement. Normalization of relations between the two countries would be a fine aspiration for the region (if it is not merely to isolate and poke Iran), but the United States meeting the Saudis’ exorbitant demands to achieve it would come at too great a cost.
After all, bilateral normalization should be in the interest of both countries, so they should negotiate it on their own without being coddled by the United States.
Locals call for transparency after nuclear drill
Vikki Irwin, BBC political reporter, Suffolk, Matt Precey, Suffolk,
BBC 22nd April 2025
People living near a US airbase earmarked to house nuclear weapons say they are being left in the dark about what would happen in the event of a radiation alert.
It comes after a drill simulating an accident involving such material was held, with personnel from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk taking part.
Nick Timothy, Conservative MP for West Suffolk, said while the US military was “welcome”, there needed to be “transparency as far as possible on issues like this exercise”.
A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman said: “Exercise Diamond Dragon demonstrated our preparedness to respond to any incident, no matter how unlikely”……………………………………….
The Suffolk Resilience Forum, which leads on emergency planning in the county, confirmed the scenario in both instances was a simulated crash in the UK of a US aircraft carrying “defence nuclear materials”.
Lakenheath Parish Council chairman Gerald Kelly said he had been told informally about the latest drill.
He said the area had an emergency plan, but added: “There is nothing in there about this sort of incident.”
The MoD should inform residents “what it wants us to do” if the event of an incident, he said.
Mr Kelly called for a siren system to be installed and for the local community to be involved in any future exercises.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde2dyk5rjpo
Bribery at Hinkley Point
A claim for unfair dismissal by project director Garrick Nisbet against Notus Heavy Lift Solutions – one of the heavy lift subcontractors working for EDF on the construction the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in the UK – has highlighted cases of bribery and corruption at the site, relating to the supply of heavy lift and rigging services.
An employment tribunal held last year was told that Ashley Daniels – at the time EDF’s head of lifting and temporary works at Hinkley Point C – accepted gifts from Nisbet on the basis that it would help ensure more business for him and his employer Notus. The ‘gifts’ included an £11,000 quad bike, £2,000 worth of tickets for a boxing match and of all things a refill for a Montblanc pen. Daniels’ activities are reportedly the subject of an ongoing investigation by EDF.
Notus Heavy Lift dismissed Nisbet without notice in April 2023 when evidence came to light, indicating that he had given the quad bike to Daniels in exchange for more work or to retain existing work levels. Daniels had apparently told Nisbet that the quad bike would give “Notus a bit of breathing space”.
In evidence given by the former managing director of Notus Heavy Lift, the tribunal heard that Daniels had “the full authority to decide who came on site and that without Ashley’s approval, Notus would not have any work on the site”.
Nisbet claimed that the ‘favours’ he had offered Daniels were limited to lunches, coffee and biscuits, and argued that he had nothing to do with the boxing tickets, adding that the Montblanc refill was simply a spare he had bought, which Daniels had asked for.
Employment judge Colm O’Rourke found that Nisbet’s use of the word “favours” was “disingenuous”, adding that the items given were “clearly bribes”………………………
………………………….More information on the ruling and evidence
This case was concluded in October last year but updated earlier this month.
To see the full list of reasons and evidence in this case go to: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/673c76869a48a5ab14acc394/Mr_G_Nisbet_-vs-_Notus_Heavy_Lift_Solutions_Limited_-_6001564.2023_-_Written_Reasons.pdf
Vertikal 24th April 2025
https://vertikal.net/en/news/story/46007/bribery-at-hinkley-point
Security fears over mini nuclear plant network with ‘1,000s more police needed’.
Keir Starmer’s plans for a ‘proliferation’ of small reactors – potentially nearer UK towns – would require an urgent rethink of how armed officers protect them, experts warn.
Government plans to build a network of
“mini” nuclear power stations across the country have failed to
adequately assess major security threats to the public, top policing
experts have warned.
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to “rip up the rules”
governing the nuclear industry to fast-track so-called Small Modular
Reactors (SMRs) to generate affordable low-carbon electricity, boosting the
economy and powering energy-intensive technology such as AI data centres.
However, security analysts caution that arrangements for guarding SMRs from
terrorists, enemy states and criminal groups need radical rethinking to
protect the public. They told The i Paper that thousands more armed
officers could be required to defend these facilities – which may be
located nearer towns and cities – plus the vehicles carrying their
radioactive fuel.
They believe these policing operations would be so much
larger, more complex and more costly than existing arrangements that a new
force may be required – yet fear ministers are overlooking or
underestimating the challenges ahead.
The Government hopes the first SMRs
will open in less than 10 years, probably at some of the country’s eight
existing nuclear sites, but the network may later expand to other locations
in England and Wales. Professor Fraser Sampson, a national security expert
at Sheffield Hallam University, said these will necessitate “a very
different policing and security model,” especially if they are located
“much nearer or even within areas of significant population, and you have
many more of them.”
Sampson, a former solicitor and police officer who
recently served as the UK’s biometrics and surveillance camera
commissioner, worries the Government is not focusing enough on security.
Anticipating a “proliferation of smaller sites,” he said: “The thing
that I think is missing, and Two researchers at King’s College London, Dr
Zenobia Homan and Dr Ross Peel, have warned that SMRs increase the
possibility of “insider threat.”
iNews 20th April 2025
https://inews.co.uk/news/crime/security-fears-mini-nuclear-plant-network-police-3648464
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