Nuke news

First can I appeal to whoever left the message re nuclear today - and was it a possible radio show each week - can they please get back in touch - the message was deleted in error and I don't have your details....but talking of nuclear prompted me to highlight the couple of bits of news below....

Pic from Russ

First Nuclear will continue to decline according to a new report. "The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2009" just out yesterday says that at this point there is no obvious sign that the international nuclear industry could turn the decline into a promising future. It was commissioned by the German federal ministry of environment, nature conservation and reactor safety, it gives facts on the nuclear power plants in operation, under construction and in planning phases throughout the world. It also assesses the economic performance of past and current nuclear projects including Calvert Cliffs, Flamanville and Olkiluoto. See Nuclear Engineering International 27th Aug 2009. Download the full report in English here.

The second bit of news is that the public prosecutor in Paris has decided not to press charges against a prominent French anti-nuclear activist, Stephane Lhomme. He had been under investigation since 2006 for breach of national security in connection with publication of a classified document acknowledging weaknesses in the EPR reactor design’s ability to withstand the crash of a commercial jetliner. The organization for which Lhomme is spokesman, Sortir du Nucleaire, attributed the closing of the case to a petition in his favor signed by 30,000 people, several of them wellknown political figures, intellectuals, writers and artists, and sent to the prosecutor’s office this spring.

To finish it is worth mentioning The Ecologist article which quotes Will Day, who took over as Chair of the Commission at the end of July and lives near to Dungeness power station in Kent. He said the waste legacy of nuclear power made it unsustainable: 'In an unpredictable climate and world, is it right to leave as a legacy waste and management issues that don't just last five, 10, 20 years but decades and hundreds of years?' He also said coastal erosion posed a risk to future nuclear power facilities. 'I live in a village not very far from Dungeness power station. We defend it 24 hours a day with bulldozers against erosion from the sea. 'Is that a cool thing to have a nuclear power station sitting at sea level with the thought of 10m of sea level rise?'

Oldbury is similarly on the coast can they really not see the madness of any decision to build there?