Clear that USA pursues Julian Assange, while Australian government feigns ignorance
US in pursuit of Assange, cables reveal,The Age, August 18, 
2012, Philip DorlingAUSTRALIAN diplomats have no doubt the United States is still gunning for Julian Assange, according to Foreign Affairs Department documents obtained by The Saturday Age. The Australian embassy in Washington has been tracking a US espionage investigation targeting the WikiLeaks publisher for more than 18 months.
The declassified diplomatic cables, released under freedom of information laws, show Australia’s diplomatic service takes seriously the likelihood that Assange will eventually be extradited to the US on charges arising from WikiLeaks obtaining leaked US military and diplomatic documents.
This view is at odds with Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s repeated dismissal of such a prospect. Continue reading
Scotland CAN get to %100 renewable energy
100% renewable energy ‘attainable’
http://www.strathearnherald.co.uk/strathearn-news/scottish-news/2012/08/10/100-renewable-energy-attainable-64054-31597089/ Aug 10 2012 The ambition to generate 100% of Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020 could be within reach, a report has suggested.
Scotland’s Renewable Energy Sector In Numbers – an online portal by industry body Scottish Renewables which pulls together figures from a range of sources – shows figures on energy capacity, output, jobs and investment, and emissions which were buried away in dense government reports. Continue reading
Nuclear company’s financial burden, trying to sell to UK
EDF open to partners on UK nuclear scheme, Ft.com, July 31, 2012 By James Boxell in Paris EDF of France is seeking partners to share the financial burden of its project to build four atomic reactors in the UK, sparking fresh concerns about whether nuclear energy is becoming too expensive.
The cost of atomic power was called into question this week by Jeff Immelt, chief executive of General Electric , who said it had become “really hard” to justify compared with cheap shale gas.
The UK wants to replace ageing nuclear reactors but it is locked in negotiations with EDF – the world’s largest supplier of atomic energy by kilowatt hours – over setting a price for electricity that would justify the heavy investment.
EDF said on Tuesday it would decide this year whether to push on with the first UK facility in Somerset. But Thomas Piquemal, finance director, said it was looking at cutting its 80 per cent share of the project to spread the risk. The UK’s Centrica owns the other 20 per cent of the four-reactor consortium.
“We are thinking about the best ways of financing this and attracting new partners,” Mr Piquemal said.
EDF is 84 per cent-owned by the French state, but private shareholders are worried about spiralling costs in the UK unless favourable terms are offered. The company is planning to build next-generation EPR reactors, which have suffered big cost overruns in France and Finland.
RWE and EON of Germany abandoned plans to build reactors in the UK because of increasing industry costs, which have jumped since the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in Japan last year http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/49b4ef00-daea-11e1-8074-00144feab49a.html#axzz22Kejy7Ba
PRISM nuclear reactor won’t solve UK’s plutonium problem
Adrian Simper, the strategy director of the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, warned last November in an internal memorandum that fast reactors were “not credible” as a solution to Britain’s plutonium problem because they had “still to be demonstrated commercially” and could not be deployed within 25 years.
the plutonium metal, once prepared for the reactor, would be even more vulnerable to theft for making bombs than the powdered oxide.
Are fast-breeder reactors the answer to our nuclear waste nightmare? The Guardian 30 July 12 The battle is intensifying on a decision over a major fast-breeder reactor to deal with the plutonium waste at Sellafield. Fred Pearce “…….Britain has a history of embarrassing failures with MOX, including the closure last year of a $2 billion blending plant that spent 10 years producing a scant amount of fuel. And critics say that, even if it works properly, MOX fuel is an expensive way of generating not much energy, while leaving most of the plutonium intact, albeit in a less dangerous form.
Only fast reactors can consume the plutonium. Many think that will ultimately be the UK choice. If so, the PRISM plant would take five years to license, five years to build, and could destroy probably the world’s most dangerous stockpile of plutonium by the end of the 2020s. GEH has not publicly put a cost on building the plant, but it says it will foot the bill, with the British government only paying by results, as the plutonium is destroyed.
The idea of fast breeders as the ultimate goal of nuclear power engineering goes back to the 1950s, when experts predicted that fast-breeders would generate all Britain’s electricity by the 1970s. But the Clinton administration eventually shut down the U.S.’s research program in 1994. Britain followed soon after, shutting its Dounreay fast-breeder reactor on the north coast of Scotland in 1995. Continue reading
Supercomputer Powered By Solar Panels, by Energy Matters, 31 July 12 A supercomputer used by Britain’s Met Office (the equivalent of Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology) is now powered by solar panels. The solar panel array will generate 221,000 kW hours of electricity per year – enough energy to power 67 UK households – and will avoid around 116 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
Installed on the rooftop of the Met Office’s Exeter HQ Energy Centre, the array is linked to an electricity management system allowing for real-time monitoring of the panels’ performance The 250kW solar power system consists of 1,000 solar modules. The system was installed by UK company Sungift Solar.
Drawing on more than 10 million weather observations each 24 hours, an advanced atmospheric model and three high performance supercomputers are used to create 3,000 tailored forecasts and briefings a day.
Among the Met Office’s other sustainability efforts in relation to its supercomputers is a Direct Current (DC) power project; a system that is delivering a 10% power reduction and a £200,000 electricity cost saving per year.
The organisation has also invested in evaporative free cooling for its supercomputers. Large tanks installed on the roof of its headquarters in Exeter allow for cooling at ambient temperature outside the building for much of the time, rather than total reliance on mechanical cooling. …. http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3318
What has happened with UK’s nuclear Polaris missiles?
Faslane and Coulport nuclear weapons maintenance to be privatised – Polaris? For Argyll.com July 28, 2012 The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has made a contractual commitment to hand over to a private sector consortium the maintenance of the UK’s nuclear weapons – described by the BBC as ‘Trident and Polaris weapons systems’ – held in Argyll at Faslane and Coulport on the Clyde.
This raises an immediate public information issue.
What is our position on the Polaris system? It was quite a shock to see it mentioned, like a rising from almost forgotten history. Polaris – and are we storing redundant warheads? Continue reading
NUKES TO GO PRIVATE PRIVATE Daily Star 29 July 12 “… contractors are to take over the maintenance of the UK’s nuclear weapons in Scotland.
The MoD has signed a 15-year deal with a consortium to provide support for the Trident weapons system at the Royal Navy’s Clyde bases.
Under the contract 149 MoD civilian posts will transfer to thecontractor, ABL Alliance…..
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/264444/Nukes-to-go-private/
Oak Ridge Y-12 Indicted for War Crimes
Statement from Transform Plowshares about Y-12 nuclear weapons facility. 29 July 12 Courtesy: disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com
Oak Ridge Y-12 Indicted for War Crimes“Today, through our nonviolent action, we—Transform Now Plowshares—indict the U.S. government nuclear modernization program,
including the new Uranium Processing Facility planned at Oak Ridge and the dedication of billions of public dollars to the continuation of the Y-12 facility.
WHEREAS, This program is an ongoing criminal endeavor in violation of international treaty law binding on the United States under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article VI): Continue reading
Opposition to privatisation of UK’s nuclear weapons management
Faslane and Coulport nuclear weapons maintenance to be privatised – Polaris?
For Argyll.com July 28, 2012 “….Privatisation of maintenance of nuclear weapons – no new notion The privatisation of security which produced the inglorious G4S failure, undermined public confidence in the organisation of the ongoing 2012 Olympic Games in London. One would therefore have expected some gesture of consultation with the Scottish government and the Scottish people on any plan to privatise the maintenance of nuclear weapons here. Continue reading
UK hastening plan to bury radioactive waste
Govt fast-tracks nuclear dumps despite warnings, The Independent/London, 29 July 12 The burial of radioactive nuclear waste is to be fast-tracked by the government despite warnings about the risks.
Ministers have revealed an “enduring ambition” for Britain’s first burial of waste from nuclear power stations to happen as early as 2029, instead of 2040 as originally planned, The Independent on Sunday revealed. Continue reading
Sound and fury, but not science, behind UK’s anti wind energy lobby
But ‘the biggest threat to our valued landscapes is climate change. Onshore wind is the cheapest source of low-carbon power, and restricting its development would jeopardise our firm commitment to offer value for money to the consumer, as well as green energy.
Bashing wind, Environmental Rsearch, 28 July 12 A new report from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) says on-land wind projects can threaten the ‘beauty and tranquility of much-loved landscapes.’… Continue reading
Centrica Says Needs Price Clarity Before Making Nuclear Decision, Bloomberg By Josephine Forster and Kari Lundgren – Jul 25, 2012 Centrica Plc (CNA), the biggest supplier of gas and electricity to British households, said it needs more clarity on power prices before
deciding to participate in building new nuclear reactors in Britain. Continue reading
Soaring costs for new nuclear power leave UK govt with a dilemma
The government will publish draft strike prices next year, but has promised to give developers such as EDF and Centrica temporary assurances to bridge the gap and allow them to move ahead with Hinkley Point.
The price they come up with is bound to come under intense scrutiny. Critics will see a high level as a massive subsidy for nuclear, but if it is too low EDF and Centrica could walk away.
Strike price key to new nuclear plants FT.com By Guy Chazan and Rebecca Bream, 23 July 12, When the Blair government first backed the idea of a new generation of nuclear plants in 2007, energy companies insisted they could build them without any public subsidy. Five years later, that claim seems painfully naive.
In the intervening years, the cost of new reactors has risen so fast that constructing them without any government support has become unthinkable.
The evidence for this change is not hard to find. Continue reading
Scotland alarmed at British governments snide subsidies for nuclear power
Coalition ‘must not sign a blank cheque’ for wind farms and nuclear Telegraph UK 23 July 12, British households cannot afford a “blank cheque” for wind farms and nuclear under the Coalition’s energy reforms, Consumer Focus has warned ”
….Last night, Scottish ministers added their criticism with serious concerns that the reforms will “subsidise nuclear at the expense of renewable energy”.
Fergus Ewing, the Scottish energy minister, argued that wind farm companies could go abroad, rather than investing in Britain.
“As Tim Yeo has said, it is too important for the UK Government to mess up,” he said…
.. Dr Cable said the cost of building offshore wind farms would only need to fall by a quarter to make them competitive with traditional forms of power generation……..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/rowena-mason/9421745/Coalition-must-not-sign-a-blank-cheque-for-wind-farms-and-nuclear.html
UK’s “Contracts For Difference” a sneaky way for taxpayer to fund new nuclear reactors
overt Government support for nuclear power could fall foul of EU state aid rules…..
it [ the European Union] may take a dim view of subsidies for nuclear.
“widespread perception that [Electricity Market Reform], and specifically CfDs, are a fig leaf over support for new nuclear”..
Energy reforms would herald a power vacuum Complex energy reform “is a fig leaf over support for new nuclear”, the Energy Select Committee finds – but ministers may still end up with no nuclear to show for it. The Telegraph, By Emily Gosden 23 Jul 2012 The Energy Select Committee pulls few punches in its assessment of the draft Energy Bill on Monday…..
The report dissects the fiendishly complicated legislation, highlighting a litany of design faults.
But it also offers a diagnosis as to why ministers have produced such complex and flawed policy: because they have designed it to accommodate the awkward demands of new nuclear.
The cornerstone of the reforms is the proposal to establish a “Feed-in Tariff with a Contract for Difference (CfD)” – a mouthful of a name that belies a simple concept. Continue reading
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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