UK government’s secret subsidies to nuclear industry
Nuclear companies are also likely to receive government assurances that the taxpayer could foot any increases to the estimated bill for storing radioactive waste from new reactors…….
MPs attack government’s covert subsidies for nuclear industry Select committee criticises attempts to hide hundreds of millions of pounds of funding as ‘deeply irresponsible’ Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent, The Guardian, 16 May 2011 The government is planning to award covert subsidies of hundreds of millions of pounds to nuclear power, betraying the coalition promise that the taxpayer would not foot the bill for a new generation of reactors, according to an influential committee of MPs. Continue reading
More dangers for UK’s nuclear submarine “Astute”
Jinxed nuclear submarine’s malfunction could have killed its entire crew Herald Scotland | By Rob Edwards 8 May 2011 The Royal Navy’s latest £1.2 billion nuclear submarine, HMS Astute, has been towed back to base after a malfunction which could have killed the entire crew, the Sunday Herald can reveal. Continue reading
Rising sea levels threaten Britain’s nuclear power plants
‘Shrinking Britain’ will force land to be abandoned to the sea, Guardian UK, by Damain Carrington, 6 May 11, Coastal erosion and UK tsunamis are a cause of concern for vulnerable nuclear power stations, says leading geologist……..
The fact that tsunamis can happen in the UK, and the idea that Britain’s coast is shrinking, is certainly relevant to the debate over nuclear power and the disposal of long-lasting nuclear waste, in my opinion. Take a look at the map of British nuclear power sites: they are all on the coast.
“It is a cause for concern, some nuclear power stations are in vulnerable positions,” said Prof Rob Duck, at Dundee University, whose new book is called This Shrinking Land: Climate Change and Britain’s Coasts…
Shrinking Britain will force land to be abandoned to the sea | Damian Carrington | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Suspected terrorists arrested at Sellafield nuclear plant
TERROR ALERT: FIVE ARRESTED AT SELLAFIELD NUCLEAR PLANT Express co, UK May 4 2011 by Paul Jeeves and John Twomey, ANTI-TERROR police were questioning five men last night amid fears of an Al Qaeda-inspired plot to attack the Sellafield nuclear plant.
The suspects, in their 20s and believed to be of Bangladeshi origin, were caught filming at the highly sensitive site in Cumbria – 250 miles from their homes in London.Armed police arrested the men on bank holiday Monday only hours after Osama Bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan.
The nuclear plant has been placed on high alert following Al Qaeda threats to unleash a “nuclear hellstorm” in revenge for the terror chief’s death. Last night police seized a small container of “suspicious material” at one of the suspects homes……http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/244616/Terror-Alert-Five-arrested-at-Sellafield-nuclear-plantTerror-Alert-Five-arrested-at-Sellafield-nuclear-plant#ixzz1LRTP0QrS
Scotland’s Greens demand end to nuclear power
Greens demand end to nuclear power at energy plan launch, STV, 25 April 11, The Scottish Greens claim that the country could generate over 100% of its power from renewable sources within nine years. Scotland could generate more than 100% of its power from renewable sources such as wave and tidal generators by 2020, the Scottish Greens have said. Continue reading
Internet leak of nuclear submarine secrets
Nuclear secrets leaked in redaction gaffe, Information Age, 18 April 11, Ministry of Defence redacted secret parts of nuclear documents just by changing the background colourThe UK’s Ministry of Defence accidentally published nuclear secrets online after staff used an easily reversible technique to redact sensitive parts publically available documents.The documents were published online following a Freedom of Information request from anti-nuclear campaigners. Certain sensitive parts of documents were supposed to be redacted, but staff simply changed the background colour of the text to black – a procedure that is easily reversed by copying and pasting the text into another document.The gaffe revealed top secret emergency response procedures for UK nuclear submarines, and details of US nuclear subs too…… Nuclear secrets leaked in redaction gaffe
UK nuclear companies protected from financial risks
Nuclear risks , The Guardian, Donald Power 15 April 2011 An estimate of the cost of compensation to Fukushima victims of $133bn has been reported by Reuters (Japan raises nuclear alert, 12 April). The UK has nuclear sites closer to major cities than Fukushima is to Tokyo, so costs could be even greater here. So it’s scandalous that nuclear operators are being allowed to cap their liability at €0.7bn or at most €1.3bn – barely 1% of the possible Fukushima compensation. No other industry is allowed to do this: BP has a $20bn fund for compensation to victims of last year’s oil spill. Why should nuclear be let off?
- The industry says the public have a poor perception of risk. That although a nuclear accident could be catastrophic and cause us to lose our homes and towns, the chances of it happening are so small that we should not worry about it. How strange then that their shareholders are not willing to accept the same small risk that they might lose their money.A more suitable measure would be to remove the protection of limited liability from the owners and directors of these companies in the event of a major accident. If we are to lose our homes, they should too, not walk away with bonuses and pensions intact as the bankers did. Readers may like to make their own views known to the Department of Energy and Climate Change nuclear third party liability consultation, which ends on 28 April. ..Letters: Nuclear risks | Environment | The Guardian
Nuclear barons queasy, as UK turning anti-nuclear?
The bosses at EDF, Centrica, RWE npower, E.ON and all must be feeling distinctly queasy, after all the time and money they’ve spent on pushing for nuclear power in Britain. They’ve been pretty successful at gaining subsidies for it too – with UK billpayers expected to pay at least £17 more per year by the middle of the decade to encourage the construction programme. Could the years of lobbying fail to pay off?
Is Chris Huhne preparing for his second U-turn on nuclear? – Telegraph, By Rowena Mason 12 April 11, The previously anti-nuclear Lib Dem, who famously became pro-nuclear on appointment to Energy Secretary, is yet to pronounce definitively on what the Japan atomic disaster may mean for UK plans for 10 new stations. But he has ordered an inquiry into safety concerns and several ministers seem to be smoothing the way for a new official line – that we don’t need nuclear power after all. Continue reading
Facts on plutonium and Mox nuclear fuel
some reactors do use Mox, but only as a small percentage (less than 30 per cent) of the total fuel. The rest of the fuel is conventional uranium oxide…Mox, which in any case remains far more expensive than conventional uranium fuel…
(UK) Government’s doomed £6bn plan to dispose of nuclear waste, The Independent, 11 April 11“……Q & A: Why has it come to this?
Q: What is Britain’s “plutonium mountain”?
A: It is the nation’s stockpile of radioactive plutonium, kept as plutonium dioxide powder, packed into special drums stored at Sellafield in Cumbria. A further, smaller amount is stored at the Dounreay nuclear facility in Scotland, the site of the doomed nuclear fast-breeder reactor programme. Continue reading
Britain has world’s biggest pile of plutonium and now Japan won’t buy it
Chubu Electric and nine other Japanese power companies have also indicated that because of long-term production problems that have dogged the SMP, they will not now be taking any reprocessed fuel from Britain until at least the end of the decade – nearly 20 years after the plant was opened to serve the Japanese market.
Government’s doomed £6bn plan to dispose of nuclear waste, The Independent, 11 April 11, One month after the Japanese tsunami, the world’s biggest reserve of plutonium waste is reaching crisis point. It was meant to be reprocessed and sold – but now no nation will take it. So where is this vast stockpile? Not Fukushima, but Sellafield, CumbriaBy Steve Connor, Science Editor The nuclear crisis in Japan threatens a carefully choreographed UK Government plan to tackle the world’s biggest mountain of plutonium waste stored at the Sellafield site in Cumbria. Continue reading
UK govt wants to sell off their problem “Mox” plutonium
[UK] ministers have now agreed they should press on with preparing the public for an even bigger Mox plant to deal with the growing stockpile of British-owned plutonium, expected to reach 109 tons within a few years.
Government’s doomed £6bn plan to dispose of nuclear waste, The Independent, 11 April 11“.…..Government ministers, their officials and advisers are all privately convinced that “recycling” plutonium waste into nuclear fuel that could be “burned” in nuclear reactors represents the safest and least expensive option in dealing with the stockpile. Continue reading
One officer killed on nuclear submarine – it could have been much worse
Officer killed in shooting on British nuclear submarine, Asia ONe News, 9 April 11, LONDON, ENGLAND – A Royal Navy officer was killed and another seriously injured in a shooting on a British nuclear-powered submarine, police said, which was only halted when a visiting politician tackled the gunman.
Another member of the navy was arrested on suspicion of murder following the incident on Friday in the southern English port of Southampton, officials said, stressing that the shooting was not “terrorist-related”. Continue reading
Japanese radiation in Scotland, strengthens antinuclear feeling
Japanese radiation found at three more Scottish locations – Scotsman.com News 31 March 2011By CLAIRE SMITH RADIOACTIVE iodine believed to be from the Fukishima nuclear plant has been found at three more locations in Scotland, according to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.Sepa said yesterday that samples believed to be from Fukushima had been detected at Dounreay in Caithness and at Lerwick in Shetland. Radioactive iodine has also been detected in East Kilbride.The news follows reports on Monday that radioactive iodine from the stricken Japanese power station had been detected in Glasgow……..Rob Gibson, SNP candidate Caithness, Sutherland and Ross said the latest detections were a reminder of the hazards of nuclear power.
He said: “It is important to stress that there is no threat to public safety. However, even at such a distance it does remind us of the hazards of nuclear power, and the terrible events in Japan.”
Mr Gibson said the Japanese nuclear crisis had strengthened the SNP’s resolve to realise Scotland’s potential for renewable energy: “No country with Scotland’s energy mix would contemplate a new nuclear power programme.”
Japanese radiation found at three more Scottish locations – Scotsman.com News
Poll shows British rejection of nuclear power future
Fewer than 10 per cent of people now believe nuclear should be the priority for energy investment in coming years, while more than 75 per cent think that the Government’s top energy investment priority should be either renewable energy, or energy saving…
Britain goes cold on new plants in Fukushima’s wake, The Indpendent By Michael McCarthy, 22 March Japan’s nuclear crisis has stalled the growing support for a UK “nuclear renaissance”, a new poll reveals. Continue reading
Britain likely to stall plans for new nuclear reactors
“Globally, this undoubtedly casts a shadow over the renaissance of the nuclear industry. That is blindingly obvious.”
Chris Huhne: Britain may scale back nuclear plans after Japan disaster. telegraph, 21 march 11 Britain may scale back its plans to build a new generation of nuclear plants in the wake of the Japanese disaster, the Energy Secretary indicated on Sunday. 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
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