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'Lost' uranium found in Dounreay clean-up - Scotsman.com News
NUCLEAR weapons-grade uranium, given up for lost at the Dounreay plant in Caithness, has been found during the clean-up at the sprawling site, it has been revealed.
A team of specialists found 1.5kg of the highly radioactive material over the past year during an operation to repackage waste at the site.
Some of the material was found in drums filled with waste and other small particles were found in the "nooks and crannies" of previously inaccessible equipment.
Three years ago, an official government report revealed that 238g of highly enriched uranium – the material used to make nuclear weapons – was unaccounted for at the Caithness nuclear facility.
Celebration as judge acquits anti-nuclear campaigners | Ekklesia
Four anti-nuclear activists who took part in a mass protest at the Aldermaston nuclear base have been acquitted by a district judge at Reading Magistrates' Court.
The four individuals were accused of obstructing the highway on 27th October 2008, but the judge, Peter Crabtree, ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove that they were even on the highway, let alone obstructing it. The defendants successfully argued that the blockade took place on Ministry of Defence land and did not significantly affect the public traffic flow.
However, the judge did not accept the defendants' argument that the Atomic Weapons Establishment was itself engaged in unlawful activity.
North West Evening Mail | Campaign against Sellafield
CAMPAIGNERS from Norway descended on Westminster to demand Sellafield be closed down amid fears an accident at the site would cause devastation across the globe.
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CAMPAIGN: Campaigners from Norway protest against Sellafield at Westminster
The group claimed the quality of the radioactive waste is poor and they fear there will be an accident at the site.
Frank Storelv, from Oslo, said 90 per cent of wind blows from the south west and if there was an explosion or accident at Sellafield, one or two days later the radioactive waste would be carried to the west coast of Norway.
Nuclear firms pay £70m for Sellafield site - Business News, Business - The Independent
A multinational consortium of energy companies is paying £70m for land adjacent to Sellafield suitable for building a new atomic power station.
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), Spain's Iberdrola and France's GDF Suez have acquired the 470-acre site, which is the fourth piece of land to be sold by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The consortium plans to build an installation with a capacity of up to 3.6 gigawatts, starting in 2015.
The SSE/Iberdrola/GDF group is the third new entrant to the UK nuclear industry after France's EDF bought British Energy for £12.5bn in January, and a consortium of Germany's RWE Npower and E.ON was successful in earlier NDA land auctions in April.
SSE/Iberdrola/GDF was also a bidder in previous auctions for land at Wylfa, Oldbury and Bradwell. But the group pulled out after competition became so fierce it ran for six weeks rather than the expected one, and netted the Government a whopping £387m rather than the expected £100m.
Trio buy Sellafield site to build giant nuclear plant - Telegraph
A consortium of utility companies is planning to build a giant nuclear power station at Sellafield, the former home of the world’s oldest reactor, as part of Britain’s next generation of cleaner energy sources.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said yesterday that it had sold the right to develop the land for a 3.6 gigawatt station to Scottish and Southern, Iberdrola and GDF Suez for £70m.
Secret nuclear swap is denied - Press & Journal
Records show Dounreay waste storage plan despite government promises
The Scottish Government has been accused of turning the country into the world’s “nuclear dustbin” amid claims foreign nuclear waste could be stored at a plant in the Highlands.
Details released under freedom of information legislation have revealed more than 600 tonnes of the waste is to be kept in Scotland, despite promises by governments and the nuclear industry that it would be sent back to the countries from where it came.
North West Evening Mail | Sellafield wants to increase discharges
SELLAFIELD has applied to raise the limit on the amount of radioactive discharge it can release into the air.
The site has applied to the Environment Agency for a five-fold increase in gas discharges known as Antimony 125 from the Magnox reprocessing plant.
The agency says there is no danger to the public, but the move has drawn criticism from the anti-nuclear group Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (Core).
Core’s Martin Forwood said: “We deplore any increase in environmental discharges but Sellafield has got the agency over a barrel.
“We are now paying the price for the industry’s abject failure to develop an alternative to reprocessing Magnox fuel.”
Nuclear giants vie for £3.6bn clean-up - Building
Bidders for nuclear work are gearing up to fight for a multibillion pound contract to manage the clean-up of the Dounreay site on the northern coast of Scotland
On Monday, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority issued a tender seeking a consortium to oversee the restoration operation at the derelict site, which contains three former nuclear reactors. The programme is valued at about £3.6bn.
The Pentland Alliance is regarded as the frontrunner for the job. Members of this consortium, which includes Amec, CH2M Hill and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), have been seconded to senior posts at Dounreay over the past three years.
However, in a surprise move last week, the commercial arm of UKAEA chose engineer Babcock International rather than Amec to be its buyer, which raised questions about the future of the Pentland Alliance. However, it is thought that the consortium will continue.
Nuclear plant put on final warning after leak - Herald Scotland | News | Transport & Environment
A nuclear power station has been sent a final warning letter after radioactive waste leaked into the sea.
Around 2600 litres of low-level waste was discharged from Hunterston B into the Firth of Clyde because of a problem with a valve.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said the leak did not cause an environmental issue, but it issued the Ayrshire power station with a final warning letter because procedures were not followed.
Extracts from a letter sent by SEPA radioactive substances specialist Keith Hammond to the director of Hunterston
B on July 8 emerged in the Sunday Herald.
He wrote: ‘‘SEPA is deeply concerned over this matter.
MoD admits crane could pose Clyde nuclear disaster risk - Herald Scotland
A huge crane poses the biggest risk of a nuclear disaster at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, according to newly released safety assessments by the Ministry of Defence.
Plutonium from up to 48 nuclear warheads could escape and cause widespread contamination and cancers if there was an accident while a Trident submarine was being moved by the crane - known as a shiplift' - the reports say.
But the MoD has been accused by experts and anti-nuclear campaigners of playing down the real dangers. The amounts and risks of the radioactivity that could be released have been underestimated, they say.
The shiplift at Faslane is a unique facility with a chequered history. Set up in 1993, it uses nearly 100 winches to hoist the 16,000-tonne Vanguard-class submarines into the air for maintenance while they remain loaded with up to 48 Trident nuclear warheads.
The shiplift had to be modified in 1997, and in 2003 a report by consultants suggested accident risks had been underestimated.
Regarded by some as Faslane's most hazardous operation, there have been hints it may end up being replaced by the kind of dry dock used elsewhere.
Nuclear waste found near Scottish coast
A small amount of nuclear waste described as a 'shovel full' has been uncovered on the Scottish coast.
The waste was found during clean up works to pave the way for the planned Dounreay low level waste facility on the northern tip of Scotland.
It's the first and, so far, only nuclear waste to be dug up at the site, which is currently undergoing a remediation by Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL).
The site was formerly a centre of fast reactor research and development, which was used for various nuclear testing between the mid 1950s to the mid 1990s.
Hot spots found at nuclear dump site - John O'Groat Journal and Caithness Courier
A PROBE is under way after the discovery of radioactive contamination at the site earmarked for Dounreay's new low-level waste (LLW) dump.
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Two hot spots were detected by a monitoring team in a field just over 200 metres from the perimeter fence to the east of the former experimental fast reactor complex.
More finds could hit the schedule for the ?110 million dump which is designed to take all the LLW produced by the plant and the neighbouring MOD site at Vulcan.
The hot spots also raise question marks about the possible spread inland of contamination from historic operations at Dounreay.
The site's multi-million-pound drive to deal with off-site pollution is focused on the seabed immediately off the plant and stretches of the surrounding coastline.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) this week called on the site operators to review its monitoring regime in light of the latest finds.
The contamination was picked up on Thursday of last week during a scheduled month-long survey of the 44-hectare site zoned for the LLW dump, which was given planning consent in April.
Whitehaven News | Sellafield ‘blackmail’ case goes to tribunal Add your comments
ALLEGATIONS that “bribery and blackmail” were used to coerce Sellafield workers into accepting a pay deal are to be heard at an industrial tribunal.
Two unions – GMB and Unite – are bringing the case against Sellafield Ltd aimed at winning financial compensation for thousands of members on the site.
This is believed to be the first hearing of its kind in British industry.
“It is going to tribunal and we are just waiting for a date,” said Whitehaven-based GMB regional organiser Steve Gibbons.
Energy review backs no nuclear scotland | SNP - Scottish National Party
Scotland’s energy future should be based on non-nuclear sources.
The SNP today welcomed a report from the Parliament’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee which supported the Scottish Government’s plans for Scotland to build a clean, green and renewable energy future as SNP MSP Rob Gibson called for the UK Government to release £150 million of potential investment in Scotland’s energy future.
In their report the Committee state that;"Scotland does not need a new generation of nuclear power stations to be constructed and sees Scotland’s energy future as one that seeks to increase markedly investments in energy efficiency, in renewable energy, in cleaner renewable or fossil-fuel fired thermal plant, such as combined heat and power and district heating, energy-from-waste plants and which, if necessary, supports the construction of a new generation of larger fossil-fuel fired plants with carbon capture technologies."
UK urged to ban uranium in weapons - Scotsman.com News
THE United Nations Association Edinburgh has called on the UK government to follow Belgium's lead on banning depleted uranium weapons.
Belgium's decision has been praised by European military unions who are concerned about the impact the weapons may have on their members.
Opposition to uranium weapons in Belgium has been spearheaded by a group of more than 20 NGOs, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
Gari Donn, chair of UNA Edinburgh, said: "Today marks the passage into force of Belgium's 2007 decision to ban the use of uranium in conventional weapons and armour after a series of unanimous parliamentary votes.
Whitehaven News | 50-year-old Sellafield nuclear leak is finally plugged
A LEAK of radioactivity at Sellafield which has lasted for half a century has finally been plugged.
The radioactive water is known to have seeped into the ground under the nuclear site for up to 50 years.
The public was first told about it in the 1970s, since which time it has been monitored regularly at safe levels.
But it is one of the radiation sources which has led to contamination on local beaches.
The liquid has seeped from a crack in one of four huge concrete waste tanks which, in the past, processed effluent before being discharged into the Irish Sea.
News & Star | Sellafield's Thorp reprocess plant shut down again
Sellafield's Thorp reprocessing plant is to shut down while a probe into an evaporator is carried out.
Site bosses said the move is not linked to a rumour sweeping west Cumbria last week that the troubled site would be closed because of the failure of another, older evaporator.
Thorp’s 1,500 workers were told last Thursday that evaporator B had been fixed, normal operations would resume and the threat of closure had been lifted. However, it emerged this morning that Thorp will be shut down, for a routine inspection of evaporator C.
North West Evening Mail| Report: no risk from Sellafield
A STUDY into the effects of radiation from Sellafield on fishermen operating in the Irish Sea found they are only exposed to low levels.
By Robert Johnson
A report by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland said those who are most exposed still only receive a radiation dose of less than one unit a year, out of the 4,000 units that the average Irish person is exposed to annually.
David Pollard, director of the institute’s monitoring and measurement services, said: “The levels are very low, but obviously there is particular concern because of the presence of Sellafield.”
BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Probe call after nuclear 'leaks'
An MP has called for an investigation after it emerged that the Faslane naval base has suffered a series of safety breaches including radioactive leaks.
A report, issued under the Freedom of Information Act, showed radioactive coolant leaked from nuclear submarines on three occasions.
The Scottish National Party's Angus Robertson called the disclosures "utterly damning".
The base on the Clyde is home to Britain's Trident nuclear missiles.
News & Star | Sellafield disaster ‘worse than Chernobyl’ averted - claim
Cumbria narrowly averted a nuclear disaster “five times worse than Chernobyl”, a county councillor has claimed.
Labour’s Wendy Kolbe, who represents Ulverston East, told councillors that a failure in the cooling system at Sellafield on April 1 could have led to a catastrophic explosion.
Her comments have been dismissed as alarmist and untrue.
She said: “For four hours radioactive storage tanks lost cooling water.
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