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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Nuclear lobby pushes for over 100 billion pound sterling to be spent on nuclear reactors

Why nuclear “Justification” isn’t enough New Statesman , by Paul Dorfman – 23 April 2010 New build nuclear reactors will escape proper Parliamentary scrutiny. That cannot be right. The nuclear industry want to build over ten new nuclear reactors in the UK. Each of these reactors will have 2.5 times the radiological inventory of Sizewell B, the biggest reactor in the UK. Continue reading

April 24, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, UK | , , , , | Leave a comment

Taxpayer will be left with costs of nuclear decommissioning and wastes

The taxpayer will be left to pick up the bills. The very nature of private companies is that they make a profit when they can … but when they can’t they can be wound up, leaving others to pick up the pieces….

Nuclear fall out, Syniadau , 17 April 2010, “……The major issue is not the cost of building the stations (although that is of course an issue, although it would be one for the companies concerned) but the cost of cleaning up the waste they produce and of decommissioning the site when it has come to the end of its productive life. These costs are much, much greater than the cost of construction.

In principle, the government’s idea is that the power companies would set aside money each year so as to pay the costs of decommissioning and clean up. The fundamental flaw in that approach is that a private company can either go bust or refuse to honour its contract commitments at any time, in much the same way as happened when National Express walked away from the East Coast rail franchise last year. The taxpayer will be left to pick up the bills. The very nature of private companies is that they make a profit when they can … but when they can’t they can be wound up, leaving others to pick up the pieces….
Syniadau :: The Blog: Nuclear fall out

April 19, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, UK | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wales finding ways to resist UK nuclear power plants

Nuclear fall out, Syniadau , 17 April 2010, “…….we have three parties in the Assembly who are opposed to nuclear power in Wales, about two-thirds of voters altogether. Yet if you vote for Labour you will get what their leaders in Westminster want in order to meet England’s energy needs … for even Labour acknowledge that Wales can produce twice the electricity we need from renewables. Continue reading

April 19, 2010 Posted by | politics, UK | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

UK should not spend 120 billion pounds on Trident nuclear missiles, says Nick Clegg

Nick Clegg 18 April 2010, “Why is it that I find myself as the only leader of a political party asking the obvious question of whether we, as a country, should be spending 120 billion pounds over the next 20 years on the like for like replacement of the Cold War Trident Missile System? I think there is no case for a nuclear deterrent. I certainly think there is no case for the like for like replacement for that system. I believe one of the reasons there is a deafening silence on that issue is because that missile system is cemented by a sense of indebtedness to our American friends.”


April 19, 2010 Posted by | politics, UK | , , , | Leave a comment

UK to upgrade expensive Trident nuclear weapons

The world unites against nuclear danger: so why is Gordon Brown upgrading Trident?  Telegraph UK By Mary Riddell World April 14th, 2010 “…….While Mr Netanyahu is a prime obstacle to global security, Britain cannot claim nearly as much credit as it would like.  Gordon Brown, who is pledged, like Obama, to creating a nuclear free world,  is going an odd way about it. Labour’s manifesto, like the Tories’, commits to maintaining our  nuclear weapons. The planned replacement of Trident, which may cost £76 billion, is not even to be included in the forthcoming Strategic Defence Review. Continue reading

April 15, 2010 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | , , , | Leave a comment

To be banned – whole body CT scans for healthy people

Government to ban whole-body CT scans for ‘health MOTs’ |Guardian UK  7 April 2010 BMJ Group The Department of Health is introducing new rules limiting the use of CT scans – detailed 3D X-rays – in private health checks offered to healthy people. Continue reading

April 12, 2010 Posted by | health, UK | , , , | Leave a comment

UK govt acting on dangers of low level medical ionising radiation

Radiation fears lead to curb on CT scans, Ministers stop short of banning whole body scans for the worried well  Sarah Boseley,   guardian.co.uk,   6 April 2010,  A clampdown on clinics offering MOT health checks to the worried well – which can include whole body scans – was signalled by the government today, amid concerns over the exposure of healthy people to unnecessary radiation. Continue reading

April 7, 2010 Posted by | health, UK | , , , , | Leave a comment

One year’s taxpayer payment to UK nuclear executives £19.5 million

included paying £3.8 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses to staff during 2008…The payments, which ranged from an average of just under £12,000 to nearly £37,000, were made on top of regular salary payments totalling £19.5 million.

Top jobs go in shake-up at nuclear quango,  The Times April 3, 2010, Two of Britain’s most highly paid civil servants have been axed and dozens more jobs are under threat at the quango charged with cleaning up nuclear plants, The Timeshas learnt. Continue reading

April 3, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, UK | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

UK’s nuclear plants viable only with advance levy on customers

Budget 2010: Consumers face levy on energy bills to pay for nuclear plants The Guardian UK  25 March 2010 The government has officially confirmed plans for a new carbon levy on consumer bills which it hopes will make building new nuclear plants viable, as the Guardian revealed in October last year. Continue reading

March 26, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, UK | , , , | Leave a comment

UK’s nuclear arsenal completely dependent on USA

War With The Ghosts Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, George Monbiot, 26 March 2010, What are our nuclear weapons for, and who controls them?, “…….. Sharing our [UK’s] nuclear deterrence with France is out of the question. Last week the government slapped down a French offer to reduce the costs of our submarine patrols, by taking turns to prowl the same seas rather than duplicating the effort and occasionally crashing into each other. Continue reading

March 25, 2010 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | , , , , | Leave a comment

Spread of nuclear technology increasing risk of terrorist radioactive attack

Legitimate uses for such materials also “significantly increases the risk that they may be diverted and exploited by terrorist organisations”….

BRITAIN FACES NUCLEAR THREAT FROM al-QAEDA, GOVERNMENT REPORT WARNS, San Francisco Sentinel, By Duncan Gardham;The London Telegraph, 23 March 2010, Britain faces an increased threat of a nuclear attack by al-Qaeda terrorists following a rise in the trafficking of radiological material, a government report has warned. Continue reading

March 23, 2010 Posted by | safety, UK | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

UK’s Conservative Party’s confused nuclear energy policy

Both Labour and the Tories claim that they will not provide any public subsidy, but both know that this cannot be true when the nuclear industry that has never been able to survive without it.

(UK) THE TORIES ARE FICKLE AND NUCLEAR IS TOO BIG TO FAIL SAYS SIMON HUGHES, Steve Beasant, Liberal Democrat Councillor for East Marsh Ward, 23 March 2010, Launching the Tories’ energy policy in July 2006, David Cameron, gave a convincing and well-reasoned argument explaining why nuclear power must be a “last resort”. Later that year he described Labour’s enthusiasm for nuclear power as “irresponsible”. As Cameron rightly pointed out: “The problems of nuclear waste haven’t been dealt with. They have got to be dealt with in order to make any new investment possible.” Four years on, we’re no closer to finding out how to deal with highly toxic nuclear waste and the Tory leader’s point stands as strong as ever. But unfortunately, the Tories no longer seem to care. Continue reading

March 23, 2010 Posted by | politics, UK | , , , , , | Leave a comment

UK Conservative Party produces financially impossible nuclear power plan

“Huge amounts of private sector investment will be needed to deliver this energy infrastructure.”

Tory energy policy given lukewarm response by energy analysts,  Energy analysts have criticised Tory plans to effect the biggest shake-up of Britain’s energy policy in a generation as “verging on the impossible”. Telegraph, By Louise Armitstead 19 Mar 2010 “……….. Central to the Conservatives’ policy document, called Rebuilding Security, are plans to fast-track the building of nuclear power plants but allowing their construction to be approved directly by Parliament to avoid lengthy delays by protesters. Continue reading

March 20, 2010 Posted by | politics, UK | , , , | Leave a comment

Human error caused nuke submarine to crash

Nuclear submarine crashed after commander misread number Headline Uk News,  March 15th, 2010 The commander of a nuclear submarine has admitted his vessel crashed into a rock because he misread a number one for a seven on a chart.

Nuclear submarine crashed after commander misread number

March 16, 2010 Posted by | safety, UK | , , , , | Leave a comment

UK concerns about safety of French European Pressurised Reactor (EPR).

the design of the EPR presents a serious risk of a major nuclear accident – a risk deliberately taken by EDF to increase its profitability.”

Design flaws in new nuclear reactors ‘could lead to UK’s Chernobyl’ | Ekklesia, 9 March 2010, Local authorities have written to the nuclear watchdog following new concerns over the design safety of nuclear reactors planned for the UK and of fears about a Chernobyl-type accident. Continue reading

March 10, 2010 Posted by | safety, UK | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment