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Nuclear test case on hold…months before judge’s ruling

Nuclear test case on hold…months before judge’s rulingB
TS23 Billingham  by Evening Gazette on Feb 10, 09
 A TEESSIDE widow and more than 1,000 atom bomb test veterans and their families will have to wait until after Easter to discover if their compensation claims can go ahead.The ex-servicemen, their widows and families claim that the men were made ill by radiation exposure following nuclear tests in the Pacific and mainland Australia in the 1950s.The claims, if successful, could potentially cost the Ministry of Defence hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation payments for a wide range of health problems………………. The judge has now opted to go away to read and consider the evidence and submissions before giving a decision.

Nuclear test case on hold…months before judge’s ruling – Billingham – TS23

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February 11, 2009 Posted by | environment, UK | Leave a comment

Centrica faces investor revolt on British Energy

rom The Times February 11, 2009Centrica faces investor revolt on British EnergyShareholders voice anger at the utility’s proposed £3.1bn nuclear deal and call on it to buy gas assets instead

Centrica is facing a shareholder rebellion over its plan to spend £3.1billion buying a stake in Britain’s nuclear industry.

A leading institutional shareholder in Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is urging the company to scrap its plan to acquire 25 per cent of British Energy from EDF of France and use the money to buy more gas assets instead.

The investor, which asked not to be named, is the latest in a growing chorus of City objectors to the deal.


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February 11, 2009 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Salmond: “nuclear will take billions from renewables”

Salmond: “nuclear will take billions from renewables New Energy Focus 09-02-09

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has claimed that the UK government’s commitment to nuclear power will rob the renewables industry of billions of pounds’ worth of investment.

Mr Salmond, whose SNP minority government is opposed to nuclear, was speaking to the Scottish Parliament during First Minister’s question time on Thursday, where he warned that nuclear power and renewable technologies could not share resources.

“Anything you invest -and it will be billions – in nuclear power is billions taken away from clean technology and in renewable technology,” he said.

He went on to emphasise Scotland’s “great prospects” in the renewables sector, which he described as the government’s “top priority”.

“I do not believe that the case for nuclear power is made,” he added. “Nuclear power is not the answer to tackling climate change or security of supply”.

New Energy Focus – Salmond: “nuclear will take billions from renewables”

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February 10, 2009 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

A-bomb test vet hopeful of win –

A-bomb test vet hopeful of win
THE SHIEKDS GAZETTE :06 February 2009 By Terry Kelly A SOUTH Tyneside atom bomb test veteran today said he was “optimistic” of victory in a landmark compensation case battle in the High Court.More than 1,000 atom bomb test veterans and their families will have to wait until after Easter before discovering if their compensation claims can go ahead, a High Court judge ruled yesterday at the end of a three-week case The ex-servicemen, their widows and families claim the men were made ill by radiation exposure after nuclear tests in the Pacific and mainland Australia in the 1950s…………………………….The claims, if successful, could potentially cost the Ministry of Defence hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation payments for a wide range of health problems.

Over the last three weeks, MoD lawyers have tried to convince Mr Justice Foskett to halt the claims.

They say the claims were made far too late and that, in any event, are doomed to fail due to the lack of evidence proving a link between their health problems and events of half a century ago.

The case came to a conclusion yesterday, with the judge opting to go away to read and consider the evidence and submissions before giving a decision.

heir widows and families claim the men were made ill by radiation exposure after nuclear tests in the Pacific and mainland

A-bomb test vet hopeful of win – Shields Gazette

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February 9, 2009 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Trident ‘increases threat of nuclear attacks on Scotland’ –

Trident ‘increases threat of nuclear attacks on Scotland
Scotsman.com News: 04 February 2009
A LEADING authority on international law has warned that nuclear weapons in Scotland increase the risk of a nuclear attack on the country.Judge Christopher Weeramantry, former vice-president of the International Court of Justice, told a conference in Edinburgh that the issue could not be left in the hands of Westminster.
While agreeing that international relations were reserved to the UK Parliament, he insisted the Scottish Parliament must uphold international humanitarian and legal obligations.

SNP defence and foreign affairs spokesman Angus Robertson said: “Judge Weeramantry’s comments add further weight to the argument for removing Trident from Scotland.”

Trident ‘increases threat of nuclear attacks on Scotland’ – Scotsman.com News

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February 5, 2009 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Letter: Data withheld on nuclear waste storage

Data withheld on nuclear waste storage The Guardian Hugh Richards 3 February 2009 We as taxpayers are being asked to take responsibility for significant amounts of spent fuel – something omitted by Rivaz. Spent nuclear fuel contains most of the radioactivity from the new reactors, but neither government nor its regulators have assessed its “disposability”, or the health effects of managing it. The Nuclear Industry Association says a repository dealing with legacy wastes could readily accommodate the smaller volumes of easier-to-handle wastes from the new nuclear plants.

But the spent fuel from EDF’s planned European pressurised reactors in England would be hotter and more radioactive than that from the EPR at Olkiluoto, in Finland. There are serious doubts it could be disposed of in the deep geological repository for legacy waste, but the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has only recently received the detailed information from EDF that will allow it to make the assessment. Having asked for a copy of that information, I have been told by the NDA that it was submitted in confidence under contractual arrangements, and agreement to the release of the information has not been granted. Thus data directly relevant to independent assessment of health detriments during the storage, retrieval, encapsulation, emplacement and subsequent abandonment of spent fuel, is being withheld by the company concerned……………………………..I have asked the energy department to publish the data, but the secretary of state is busy promoting nuclear power by “reducing regulatory risks for investors”. He is also the “sole justifying authority” that will decide whether benefits from new reactors outweigh any health detriments, a somewhat dangerous conflict of interests.

Letter: Data withheld on nuclear waste storage | Environment | The Guardian

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February 4, 2009 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Revealed: the nuclear waste on Cheshire’s roads – Chester standard

Revealed: the nuclear waste on Cheshire’s roads

The Standard 2nd February 2009

REGULAR loads of nuclear waste are travelling along Cheshire roads, it has been revealed.

Emergency services went on full alert after a trailer carrying a load of low-level waste from Sellafield Ltd’s Capenhurst decommissioning site to its repository at Drigg in Cumbria became unhitched from the HGV tractor towing it near the junction of the A41 and the A5117 at Great Sutton.

Officials at the company along with outside safety watchdogs have now ordered a top-level inquiry into the incident

Revealed: the nuclear waste on Cheshire’s roads – Chester standard

February 2, 2009 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

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