The revival of atomic energy in Europe and a new nuclear-friendly mood in both the EU Commission and the EU Parliament has given the industry’s powerful lobby in Brussels a
shot in the arm. (more…)
The ESB has told an Oireachtas committee that nuclear power is not needed in Ireland for the foreseeable future.
Fluctuating oil prices and climate change have led to calls for a debate on nuclear energy as a way to end Ireland’s dependence on fossil fuels.
However, ESB chief executive Padraig McManus told the Oireachtas committee on energy and natural resources today that Ireland could comfortably meet its energy demands if clean-coal technology and inter-connection with other countries is implemented successfully.
He said nuclear power was unlikely to be on the agenda for at least another 25 years.
Persuading local residents that they should nuclear waste in their backyard is not an easy job. But that’s exactly what officials from the Federal Energy Office are doing. They are touring the country, holding information sessions in the regions identified as possible storage sites. One of the candidates is Wellenberg. That particularly upsets voters in canton Nidwalden since they have twice turned down a proposal to build a nuclear waste repository in Wellenberg. Vincent Landon went to a public meeting in Stans and has this report. (more…)
THE owner of Torness Power Station has seen earnings plummet in the first half of the year as a result of lower electricity output.
British Energy said pre-tax earnings fell by 50 per cent to £257 million in the six months to September 28. (more…)
The new operators of Sellafield are to be exempt from Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, it has been revealed.
Energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband has ruled that Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), a US-led consortium that will take control of the site on Monday, will not be subject to the legislation. (more…)
Nuclear power is re-emerging as a concern for our times, both as a generator of energy and as part of a defence strategy. Today it seems to stand for the failed utopian promises of modernism and a fresh hope for a carbon-free future. The contradictions that lie at its core have provided a rich source of questioning for artists, scientists, ecologists and activists for many years. The Arts Catalyst’s exhibition NUCLEAR: art & radioactivity explores these intricacies through two new commissioned works by Chris Oakley and Simon Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou. (more…)
This must take the record for the trippiest data-center build anywhere, ever: It’s an old nuclear bunker 30 meters below central Stockholm, and its new conversion for one of Sweden’s biggest ISPs has made it truly 007-worthy. Check it: it has simulated daylight, greenhouses and waterfalls, there’re German submarine engines rigged as emergency backup generators, plus there’s 1.5 megawatts of cooling for the servers. Oh, and it can survive a hydrogen bomb attack. (more…)
The EU needs to invest more in research if it is to meet its climate-change targets.
The world will need to generate 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050 to minimise climate-change impacts, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said, an awesome challenge that once again underlines the importance of investing in the next generation of renewable energy. (more…)
The Sellafield body parts inquiry has hit a major legal hitch after a doctor suggested his patients’ medical records should remain confidential – even though they are dead.
Michael Redfern QC is leading an inquiry into claims organs and tissue were secretly removed from workers at Sellafield and other nuclear plants without the knowledge of bereaved loved ones. (more…)
Sophos has discovered a widespread spam campaign that claims that a powerful explosion occurred at a nuclear power station located in the suburbs of London on the afternoon of the 9th September.
Samples intercepted by SophosLabs reveal that the emails claim to contain images in an attachment called victims.zip. In fact, clicking on the attachment will not open any pictures of the supposed explosion but will instead run a Trojan horse detected by Sophos as Troj/Agent-HQE. Once installed, the hackers can use the malware to spy on the victim’s computer and steal information for financial gain. (more…)
