Nuclear News: Britain poised to lose jobs as £10bn nuclear power plant contract goes to US
Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:
Britain poised to lose jobs as £10bn nuclear power plant contract goes to US
‘Thousands of jobs that were to have been created in Britain to build the next generation of nuclear power plants could be heading overseas instead, after Westinghouse, the nuclear company sold by the government three years ago to Toshiba, chose one of its largest shareholders as the lead contractor to build reactors. Westinghouse is expected to confirm this week that it has appointed US-based Shaw Group to head up its £10bn nuclear programme, passing over the favourite for the contract, rival engineering group Fluor. Industry sources said that Shaw is likely to source far more reactor components from overseas than Fluor, which has close relationships with British manufacturers. The Unite union claimed that 10,000 new jobs in the UK would not be created as a result of Shaw being selected.’
NRC investigating radiation at Three Mile Island
‘MIDDLETOWN, Pa. - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is sending investigators to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant after a small amount of radiation was detected there. About 150 employees were sent home Saturday afternoon after the radiation was detected at the central Pennsylvania plant. Officials say there is no public health risk. Exelon Nuclear spokeswoman Beth Archer says investigators are searching for a cause of the release. She says the radiation was quickly contained.’
India - Is Obama the secret of our N-energy?
‘Washington: Hours before prime minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Washington, Indian officials involved in talks regarding the implementation of the civilian nuclear deal with the United States said the negotiations over key issues, including India's right to reprocess spent fuel, were in the last leg. "We hope that before the joint statement (between Singh and Barack Obama) is completed, it will be done," said an official. "We are finalising the last stage of the nuclear deal. What we are looking for are up-front reprocessing rights." While the reprocessing pact will ease India's anxieties about Obama's commitment to the deal, New Delhi is likely to provide an "assurance" sought by the US government that American nuclear technology will not be passed on to a third country.’
Shortage Slows a Program to Detect Nuclear Bombs
‘WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security has spent $230 million to develop better technology for detecting smuggled nuclear bombs but has had to stop deploying the new machines because the United States has run out of a crucial raw material, experts say. The ingredient is helium 3, an unusual form of the element that is formed when tritium, an ingredient of hydrogen bombs, decays. But the government mostly stopped making tritium in 1989. "I have not heard any explanation of why this was not entirely foreseeable," said Representative Brad Miller, Democrat of North Carolina, who is the chairman of a House subcommittee that is investigating the problem. An official from the Homeland Security Department testified last week before Mr. Miller's panel, the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science Committee, that demand for helium 3 appeared to be 10 times the supply. Some government agencies, Mr. Miller said, did anticipate a crisis, but the Homeland Security Department appears not to have gotten the message.’
Niger: Massive protest against the president
‘Thousands of protesters on Sunday took to the streets of Niamey, Niger's capital, calling for the resignation of President Mamadou Tandja. Comprising youths and adults, the demonstrators carried placards with messages such as: "Tandja must go", "Down with the Destroyer of democracy." Calls were also made for former prime minister and opposition figure, Hama Amandou to take the president's place, AFP reported. Addressing the rally at mid-afternoon, the leader of the opposition coalition (CFDR) Mohammad Bazoum said: "It is up to us to end this autocratic rule. If we don't move nobody will move in our place. We have to fight and fight."’
