THE NUCLEAR POWER CAKE IS CRUMBLING

Two of the major players for new nuclear power in the UK have pulled out.
Both RWE Npower and E.On have announced that they are no longer interested in building new nuclear power stations at Oldbury and in Anglesey. Their joint project 'Horizon Nuclear Power' cites difficulties raising finance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17546420
The government says there still remains 'considerable interest', and hopes that alternative potential investors will be found to fill the gap left by these two major companies.
The decision by RWE Npower and E.On, both German firms, can be linked to the demise of nuclear power in Germany, which itself was sparked by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

JAPAN DOWN TO ONE NUCLEAR POWER STATION IN OPERATION

No 6 unit at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station  in Japan's Niigata prefecture has been taken offline by TEPCO for maintenance. Just one nuclear plant remains in operation in Japan, on Hokkaido island.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17508657


The Hokkaido nuclear plant is the last of 54 nuclear reactors remaining in operation. It is due to be switched off in May.


Local communities and residents have demanded that reactors are left switched off after maintenance due to safety fears.

FALL-OUT FROM FUKUSHIMA
the nuclear power crisis


Radioactivity still leaks from the stricken Japanese nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, almost six months after the humanitarian disaster of the massive earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. It will be at least January 2012 before the leaks can be stopped. The scrapped nuclear reactors, still highly radioactive and toxic, will take many years and vast expense to decontaminate, monuments to the folly of power generation from nuclear fission.

The Tokyo nuclear power company held back vital information, and failed to divulge failures in safety standards. Japanese public opinion has turned decisively against nuclear power. On 6 August, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan marked the 66th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing * in 1945 by declaring that ‘I will reduce Japan’s reliance on nuclear power, aiming at creating a society that will not rely on atomic power generation.’ Before the Fukushima disaster Japan had planned to raise nuclear generation from about 30% to 53% by 2030.

After mass anti-nuclear protests across Germany, all German nuclear power plants will be phased-out by 2022.

In the UK, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced in early August the closure of the Mox plutonium recycling plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, due to events in Japan. This business depended on the shipment of weapons-usable material from Japan, always a crazy concept open to piracy and terrorism long before Fukushima.

The nuclear-convert environmentalist Mark Lynas spent two years researching a book **, published in July, praising nuclear power, ridiculing greens who oppose nuclear, implying that even Chernobyl was hardly more than a harmless picnic. Inconveniently for Lynas, the Fukushima nuclear disaster struck a few months before his book publication date. Unfazed, Lynas hastily included his anodyne assessment that Fukushima changed nothing; a gratuitous evidence-free conclusion made long before any rigorous scientific analysis is available.


Continuing to invest in nuclear power is totally irresponsible.


* ‘Children of the Ashes’, Robert Jungk, Pelican 1963
** ‘The God Species’, Mark Lynas, Fourth Estate 2011

(An abridged version of the above article was first published  in 'The Watermelon' Autumn/Winter 11/12)

OCCUPY LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE

The nearest to the London Stock Exchange that protesters were able to set up their camp was a paved public area close by, just outside the main entrance to St Paul's cathedral in London.  The aim of the protesters is to highlight corporate greed and inequality. The camp is now in its ninth day.
The cathedral authorities have closed St Paul's to visitors, church worshippers and pilgrims, on account of health and safety concerns, and have asked the protesters to move peacefully. The protesters have set up a second camp in Finsbury Square, also in the city of London area. The church is said to be losing between £16,000 and £20,000 each day.
The protest on its own doorsteps has put the church in an awkward situation.

THE SHOTGUN MARRIAGE

In recent years I've not bothered to watch the BBC's 'Questiontime' programme.  The programme had gradually deteriorated under the increasingly partial chairmanship of Dimbleby, D. The panelists were generally either safe hand-picked party mouthpeices, or predictable 'independents'. However, during the general election campaign I returned to viewing the programme, just to keep up with the latest sparring of the big parties.

But since the shotgun marriage of the CondemCo government, there are indications of some deliciously ironic and hypocritical moments in store for viewers as the love-in between the two parties slowly unfolds and eventually unravels and disintegrates. Last week we had the spectacle of the fanatical manic right-wing John Redwood trying desperately to be nice to a Libdem woman panelist. And Dimbleby constantly enjoys reminding everyone of the pre-election  leaders' debates when Cameron and Clegg were at each other's throats.

The Labour Party was uncharacteristically wise to have nothing to do with the Libdems or any sort of 'rainbow' alliance. Thereby they managed to snatch a sort of victory from the jaws of defeat in the election.

I don't believe this government will last a full five year term (why five years?). But neither do I consider it will disintegrate early. I'd give it at least a couple of years. There is too much riding on it for both coalition parties for them to allow it to fail early. They both wanted a taste of power,  really desperately. That power will not be surrendered readily, no matter what unlikely political backwaters they have to navigate.

Here is another image from right-wing Mid Beds Tory MP Nadine Dorries' blog, just a few days before the election. I'm not making it up - this really did appear on her blog:

CAROLINE LUCAS MP CONDEMNS ISRAELI ATTACK

The Green Party Leader, Caroline Lucas MP, has called on the Government to condemn the actions of the Israeli troops in firing on a ship carrying volunteers and medical supplies to Gaza, and to back an urgent inquiry into the incident.
In a strongly worded message to Foreign Secretary William Hague, she has demanded that he urgently contact the Israeli authorities to demand an end to the attacks, and that he ensure that Israel is held fully to acount for an illegal and unprovoked attack.
Speaking this morning, she said:


"I completely condemn this deadly attack on the humanitarian aid convoy. I am deeply shocked by the brutality of the assault, which has left a still unkown number of people dead and wounded. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.
"This attack is a serious infringement of the principles of international law. The Green Party calls on the UK Government, and the EU, to apply pressure to lift the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which makes essential humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza virtually impossible to deliver. We also call for the quick establishment of an international inquiry to shed light on the circumstances of this attack."

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/31-05-2010-Caroline-Lucas-condemns-Israeli-attacks.html

A HELPING HAND

It seems that right-wing Tory MP Nadine 'Nimby' Dorries is having trouble with her blog.
It's been off the air since the general election.
I'm not sure what the trouble is. There may be a technical hitch.
Fortunately, before her blog disappeared, I took the precaution of saving a few of her pre-election items.
To give a helping hand in times of need, I'll post one or two here.
This is the first: