Group items tagged

A Highland castle attacked by Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army and later a site of experiments on radioactive liquid is at risk of collapse. Engineers have carried out a structural survey of 16th Century Dounreay Castle following concerns over safety. They said the ruins, which form part of the estate now managed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, had badly eroded lintels and precarious masonry. Historic Scotland has been informed of the latest survey results.

"Protests were held in several European countries over the weekend against the last American nuclear weapons remaining on the continent. The hundreds of protesters who turned out were a far cry from the massive demonstrations of the 1980s. By Marjolein van de Water in Uden * Archive - Labour party wants US nuclear weapons removed from Dutch soil * Opinion - 'We must play an active role to establish a nuclear weapon free world' "Will I get fined if I pee against a tree?" a young man with dreadlocks asked a police officer. The officer, pointed him in the direction of a couple of portable toilets 50 metres away. The boy trudged over to answer to nature's call. "

Deutsche Welle: What issues will the Europeans be most involved with in terms of nuclear security at the Washington summit? Seaboyer: The Europeans will obviously be interested in any discussions on Iran even though it doesn't feature on the agenda. They will also want to address the issue of dual-use goods - nuclear material with both civilian and military uses - and the freedom of movement of this material. The Europeans are much stricter than the Americans when it comes to this. The Non-Proliferation Treaty is another area where the Europeans have a lot of interest and as this summit is a precursor to the NPT conference, most of the Europeans will want to talk about the decommissioning of weapons and how you can make signatories of the NPT who are not complying to reduce their arms."

"While officials in Washington continue to pass the political hot potato of nuclear waste production and disposal, the Palmetto State has been left holding the bag. The issues on the ground surrounding the nuclear industry in South Carolina are as perplexing as the national policies at the heart of the debate. On one hand, the Savannah River Site and the two new slated nuclear reactors in Jenkinsville and Cherokee County provide jobs and utilities; on the other hand we face the necessary evil of nuclear waste production and storage, a prospect made grimmer after the federal government recently backpedaled on plans to open the Yucca Mountain Repository in Nevada. The good news: the four new nuclear reactors slated to be built in our state will be constructed using a state of the art, efficient design, but the bad news: a recent (still disputed) study found a potential flaw in the design that could spew radioactive particles to the four winds. Good news: the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) has rescinded an order to triple waste canister density at SRS, but the bad news: the waste that was supposed to be temporary is still there indefinitely… sort of a black mushroom cloud with a silver lining."