United Kingdom

Bad reactions

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The figures just don't stack up for the argument that new nuclear power stations will ensure a secure and sustainable energy source.

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Nuclear reactors will cost twice estimate, says E.ON chief

Monday, May 5, 2008

The Government has vastly underestimated the cost of building a new generation of nuclear power plants, according to the head of the world's largest power company.

Wulf Bernotat, chairman and chief executive of E.ON, the German energy giant that owns Powergen, has told The Times that the cost per plant could be as high as €6 billion (£4.8 billion) - nearly double the Government's latest £2.8 billion estimate.

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Chain reaction

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Is nuclear power the answer to the energy crisis? Ian Sample explains how it works - and how we get the awful side-effects of bombs and waste.

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UK nuclear power revival at risk of delays

Monday, April 28, 2008

Pensioned-off engineers will have to be brought out of retirement if the revival of nuclear power is not to be hit by serious delays, the Government has been warned.

A shortage of professional engineers and skilled trades is threatening plans to build new nuclear power stations around the country to ensure security of electricity supply and avoid the risk of blackouts, it is claimed.

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Energy Solutions and Toshiba-Westinghouse consortium nuclear bid

Monday, April 28, 2008

An American-Japanese consortium is bidding to construct two new nuclear power stations at sites in Gloucestershire and Essex as the race to build a new generation of reactors intensifies.

Energy Solutions, a nuclear services firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is working on the plans with Toshiba-Westinghouse, a supplier of reactor technology. They are already collaborating on a proposed new nuclear station at Wylfa in Anglesey, North Wales.

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Chernobyl still felt in Wales

Friday, April 25, 2008

Twenty two years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Plaid MEP Jill Evans says tomorrow's anniversary (Saturday) serves as a timely reminder of why nuclear power must be phased out.

The radioactive cloud spread radiation from Chernobyl right across Europe, and more than 300 farms in the north of Wales are still affected by restrictions imposed in the aftermath of the disaster.

Ms Evans visited the the site of the nuclear power plant two years ago with a group of MEPs and met local people whose lives were shattered by the disaster as well as people who are now working to secure the site.

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Aon warns of supply risk for UK nuclear

Friday, April 18, 2008

London, 10 April: Insurer Aon Corporation has warned that the UK's plan for a nuclear power renaissance must take into account risks of interruptions to the supply of uranium fuel.

The UK government is easing planning restrictions, in a bid to encourage private companies to build a new generation of nuclear power plants to help replace the existing, aging fleet of reactors. At a speech on 26 March, UK Business Secretary John Hutton called this new push for nuclear "the most significant opportunity for our energy economy since the exploitation of North Sea oil and gas".

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British Energy denies Torness outage was unplanned

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

British Energy planned to take its Torness reactor in Scotland offline over the weekend and was not forced to do so, chief executive Bill Coley told an investor day presentation at Heysham, Lancashire Tuesday.

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Nuclear plants sucking the sea life from British waters, researchers claim

Monday, April 14, 2008

The nuclear industry in Britain is killing billions of fish every year and taking a devastating toll of stocks, an Oxford University academic suggests.

The impact can be so severe in the worst-affected regions of the seas around Britain that death rates are equivalent to half the commercial catch for some species.

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Defects found in nuclear reactor the French want to build in Britain

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Safety investigators uncover cracks in the concrete base and substandard welds. Lack of recent experience in building nuclear plants said to have caused problem.

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