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Tories court property owners with promise of free cost-saving home improvement scheme and pledge 'immediate action to to keep Britain's lights on' The Conservative party annual conference in Manchester. Photograph: Christopher Thomond Every UK homeowners will benefit from an allowance of up to £6,500 to make their properties more energy efficient, under a "green deal" proposed by the Conservatives today. The idea is part of a wider energy and climate change package aimed at kick-starting a green economy in the UK. The shadow energy and climate change secretary, Greg Clark, said a Tory government would immediately approve construction of several nuclear and coal-fired power stations to help prevent electricity blackouts in the next decade, to strengthen the national grid and enable the harnessing of renewable energy sources at sea, and to boost the number of charging points for electric cars.

Tories court property owners with promise of free cost-saving home improvement scheme and pledge 'immediate action to to keep Britain's lights on' The Conservative party annual conference in Manchester. Photograph: Christopher Thomond Every UK homeowners will benefit from an allowance of up to £6,500 to make their properties more energy efficient, under a "green deal" proposed by the Conservatives today. The idea is part of a wider energy and climate change package aimed at kick-starting a green economy in the UK. The shadow energy and climate change secretary, Greg Clark, said a Tory government would immediately approve construction of several nuclear and coal-fired power stations to help prevent electricity blackouts in the next decade, to strengthen the national grid and enable the harnessing of renewable energy sources at sea, and to boost the number of charging points for electric cars.

A growing number of Carolinians say rising demand for electricity can be met through conservation rather than by building more power plants. That's a key finding of a new poll commissioned by Duke Energy Carolinas. And it reflects a distinct shift in public opinion from two years ago. In the latest poll, 43% of the 1,100 N.C. and S.C. residents surveyed say "people and companies will learn to conserve energy and use significantly less electricity." Only 30% say "government will give permission for more power plants to be built."

A growing number of Carolinians say rising demand for electricity can be met through conservation rather than by building more power plants. That's a key finding of a new poll commissioned by Duke Energy Carolinas. And it reflects a distinct shift in public opinion from two years ago. In the latest poll, 43% of the 1,100 N.C. and S.C. residents surveyed say "people and companies will learn to conserve energy and use significantly less electricity." Only 30% say "government will give permission for more power plants to be built."

In "A New Old Nuclear Arsenal," Michael O'Hanlon [op-ed, Dec. 25] stated that Barack Obama's budget request "should not include money for the reliable replacement warhead, but his administration's first nuclear review should commit the United States to building more conservative and less deadly bombs by about 2015." Mr. O'Hanlon failed to define what he considers to be a "more conservative and less deadly" nuclear weapon (a kinder, gentler bomb?), but he suggested that "The United States developed more conservative weapons designs in the early years of the nuclear era that might be usable." Which weapons he is talking about? The strategic nuclear weapons of the 1960s, '70s and '80s generally had yields in the megaton range, much larger than most of those the United States now deploys.

A review of environmental skepticism literature from the past 30 years has found that the vast majority of skeptics, often identified as independent, are directly linked to politically oriented, conservative think tanks. The study, published in this month's issue of Environmental Politics, analyzed books written between 1972 and 2005 that deny the authenticity of environmental problems. The researchers found that more than 92 percent of the skeptical authors were in some way affiliated to conservative think tanks - non-profit research and advocacy organizations that promote core conservative ideals.

Giant loan guarantees could stick taxpayers with the bill At a time of deep partisan and ideological divi -sion in Washington, there aren't many issues that bring together forces from across traditional divides. So when scholars at conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and taxpayer groups such as the National Taxpayers Union agree with environmentalists on something, it's time to sit up and take notice. That's exactly what's happening on the issue of federal subsidies for new nuclear power plants. Fiscal conservatives know that nuclear subsidies are a potential multibillion dollar boondoggle, while environmentalists know that - even beyond the environmental and public safety threats posed by the reactors themselves - there are far better and much cheaper solutions to our energy and global warming challenges."

"On Tuesday the Utah Division of Water Rights will hold public hearings on applications by both the Kane County and the San Juan County water conservancy districts to change the diversion points of 53,600 acre-feet of water from the Colorado and San Juan rivers upstream to the Green River. The applications also seek to change the designated use of the water to facilitate operation of a nuclear reactor along the Green River proposed by Blue Castle Holdings, Inc. The nuclear facility and its water consumption would deplete and alter Green River flows already threatened by climate disruption-flows that the survival and recovery of four endangered fish species depend (Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, bonytail and humpback chub). The reactor further threatens to kill endangered fish caught in water intake structures and to exacerbate regional water contamination by associated uranium mining that is already contributing to the fish's decline in the upper Colorado River basin. Other imperiled species will also potentially be harmed, including the roundtail chub, bluehead sucker and flannelmouth sucker, all of which are subject to conservation agreements between the state and federal governments in order to preclude the need to list them under the Endangered Species Act. "Imposing this massive water withdrawal atop climate change and regional drying would force unacceptable risks on to endangered fish and the Colorado River system," said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity, "It's time for the era of pollution- and water-intensive energy development to end. Those old technologies need to be replaced with clean renewables and energy conservation.""

"The Liberal Democrats agreed to drop their opposition to a new generation of nuclear power stations in one of many "unpleasant" compromises needed to secure a power-sharing deal with the Conservatives, the new energy minister said on Thursday. UK Chris Huhne, a Liberal Democrat who has described nuclear power as a "failed technology," said it was worth sacrificing one of his party's key election pledges to bolster Britain's first coalition since 1945. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to share power on Wednesday after the ruling Labour Party failed to win a fourth term in office at an inconclusive election last week. Under their agreement, the Liberal Democrats agreed not to vote against Conservative proposals to build new nuclear power stations to replace the current ageing plants."

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

Nearly 10,000 barrels of nuclear waste will be moved again in the Woomera prohibited area, to a more suitable storage facility. The Defence Department is planning to move the barrels a few kilometres from where they are stored in an old aircraft hangar, to an explosives storage building. David Noonan from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says the Federal Government needs to find a permanent site for the waste.

Nearly 10,000 barrels of nuclear waste will be moved again in the Woomera prohibited area, to a more suitable storage facility. The Defence Department is planning to move the barrels a few kilometres from where they are stored in an old aircraft hangar, to an explosives storage building. David Noonan from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says the Federal Government needs to find a permanent site for the waste.

"On Friday two more groups, the Department of Public Service and the Conservation Law Foundation each filed testimonials regarding the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The two testimonies filed with the Vermont Public Service Board come a day after the Vermont Natural Resources Council filed its own testimony with the board claiming the nuclear plant violated the state's groundwater public trust law and should be shut down immediately. While Conservation Law Foundation echoed the suggestions made by VNRC, the Department of Public Service, by contrast, stated VY had taken an appropriate course of action in response to the discovery of a tritium leak in January. Since the leak was discovered, "Vermont Yankee assembled an effective team to locate and stop the source of the leak to the environment," according to testimony by Uldis Vanags, the state nuclear engineer with the DPS. Vanags continued, "I witnessed Vermont Yankee following all its procedures to assure there was a thorough engineering review prior to the drilling of sample wells and any excavation work." "

As Canada's industrial centre, Ontario needs a lot of electricity. At one time, it got most of this power from water-driven turbines, hence the name Ontario Hydro. But the name has changed to the Ontario Power Authority, an indication of the province's increasing reliance on other sources of electricity, especially nuclear power. Because Ontario's demand continues to grow, it's assumed that supply must also continue to grow - and nuclear has been touted as the most reliable source of that increasing power. I've always thought it was crazy to plan on steady growth forever. It can't be maintained in a finite system such as our biosphere. Energy conservation makes a lot more sense, and it has been proven to be effective. After the rolling brownouts engineered in California by Enron in 2001, the state embarked on a conservation program that slashed usage and saved billions of dollars.

Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) said Monday that it will soon submit a water and soil conservation plan to the Taipei County Government for the construction of a new, dry nuclear waste dump for its First Nuclear Power Plant. Once the Taipei County Government approves the water and soil conservation plan, Taipower will be able to start building the interim repository near the First Nuclear Power Plant for dry storage of its spent nuclear fuel rods, said Tu Yueh-yuan, chief engineer and Taipower spokesman. The First Nuclear Power Plant, located in the county's coastal Shihmen township, has been operational since 1978 and is expected to be decommissioned in 2018, according to Tu.

Two conservation groups have joined several local landowners in a lawsuit to try to force the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to rescind a decision to permit natural gas drilling near the site of a 1969 atomic blast test in western Colorado. The suit, filed in the state District Court of Denver County on December 18, seeks to prevent Denver-based EnCana Oil and Gas from drilling five directional wells from a well pad within three miles of the Project Rulison site near the town of Battlement Mesa in Garfield County. The plaintiffs in the suit say that the COGCC in November issued EnCana permits to drill the wells without holding hearings on the potential of drilling so close to the site where the Atomic Energy Commission detonated a 43-kiloton nuclear bomb 8,4000 feet below ground.

Conservative lawmakers disagree with the governor's energy advisor over nuclear power. While Dianne Nielson wants the state's energy policy to include a provision requiring the federal government to open a permanent high-level radioactive waste facility, but conservatives including Rep. Mike Noel warns the statement could put a freeze on nuclear power proposals in Utah. "What it's going to do is basically say, 'No nuclear power plants in the state of Utah, which will hurt our people,'" Noel says. "So that's what I read this as. Unless I'm reading this wrong, you are making a statement here that's going to be beyond what the federal government is doing right now, and hasn't been able to do because of the issues in Congress."

Conservation groups are challenging Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne today, saying he is allowing uranium exploration near the Colorado River and Grand Canyon National Park contrary to a congressional resolution passed in June. Congress on June 25 prohibited uranium mining activity across 1 million acres of public lands in watersheds leading to the Colorado River that surround the Grand Canyon.

Senior Canadian officials left a binder full of confidential nuclear documents in a television studio and made no attempt to retrieve them, the TV network involved said on Wednesday. The incident is likely to increase pressure on the minority Conservative government, already under fire for its handling of the economic crisis. The main opposition Liberal Party said on Tuesday it would decide next week whether to try to bring down the Conservatives in Parliament.

"The Conservation Law Foundation lobbed a big curve ball into the controversy over the tritium leak at the Vernon Yankee nuclear reactor Tuesday, saying the land that is contaminated appears to be "filled" land, and thus belongs to the state. The environmental group alerted Gov. James Douglas to the problem Tuesday, saying it had done a records search at the Vernon Town Hall and discovered the potential problem. According to Chris Kilian, state director for the Conservation Law Foundation, maps showing the Vermont Yankee plant, as well as maps submitted to the Public Service Board and the Vermont Legislature, show Entergy's ownership boundary "well inland" from the banks of the Connecticut River. Kilian said the land in question, which he said was about two acres and had multiple buildings on it, was labeled "Vermont Yankee Easement Area." He said that phrase on the Entergy maps had piqued his interest, resulting in the land research down in Vernon."

"Bulgaria has stopped construction of its second nuclear power plant until it finds a new investor and funds to complete the project, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov told Tuesday's edition of the daily 24Casa. "The country has no money for an atomic power plant," Borisov said. "We will build it when investors come." The government has earmarked 7 million euros (9.25 million dollars) to conserve the construction site at Belene, on the Danube, 180 kilometres northeast of the capital Sofia. The plant was originally to be built by Russian company Atomstroiexport for 4 billion euros. The firm had signed a contract with the previous, Socialist-led government, swept from power by Borisov's conservative GERB party swept in last year's July elections. Borisov last week turned down a 2-billion-euro offer made by Moscow for a stake in the plant, which would have kept the construction work going. Instead, Bulgaria plans to seek a full investor to finish its second nuclear plant, Borisov said. Neighbouring Serbia had also expressed interest in a 5-per cent stake in the project, Borisov said, turning it into "a Balkan, European project.""

"One accusation frequently levelled at the Labour administration by the Conservatives was that ministers were moving so slowly on developing energy policy that Britain could see the lights go out. In that context, the decision to give energy policy to one of the five Liberal Democrats offered a cabinet seat looks a curious one. There is much on which Chris Huhne and his new Conservative colleagues will agree - the need for a green investment bank, for example, and the refusal to countenance the building of a third runway at Heathrow. On one issue, however, the LibDems and the Tories remain poles apart: the role of nuclear power in the generation of Britain. "

The Department of Energy plans to spend less money in coming months at its environmental cleanup sites including Hanford than was approved by Congress in a continuing budget resolution for spending through early March. DOE's goal is to be conservative and not overspend in the first five months of the year as the funding amount for the rest of the year still unclear. DOE will use the administration request for funding in fiscal 2009, which would cut annual spending on DOE cleanup nationwide from a little more than $5.7 billion in the fiscal year 2008 budget to $5.5 billion. The fiscal year started Oct. 1. At Hanford, the budget for cleanup under the DOE Hanford Richland Operations Office would drop from the $886.5 million approved for fiscal 2008 to $851.8 million under the administration's request for fiscal 2009. That's a decrease of $34.7 million.