Keyword: nuclear energy

Europe: New Energy Policy Needed as Nuclear Giants Take a Hit

Picture: Anti-nuclear campaigners in London in protest at the industry Paul Brown - LONDON, 28 May, 2015 − The European nuclear industry, led by France, seems to be in terminal decline as a result of the cancellation of a new Finnish reactor, technical faults in stations already under construction, and severe financial problems. The French government owns 85% of both of the country’s two premier nuclear companies – Areva, which designs the reactors, and Electricite de France (EDF), which builds and manages them. Now it is amalgamating the two giants in a...

Best of SACSIS: SA's Energy Crisis - Public Misinformed by State in Cahoots with Fossil Fuel Industry

Picture: SACSIS Video ** For coverage of the entire event including the Q&A session, click on the podcast link above. In the face of extremely compelling evidence against coal and nuclear energy, our government’s response to South Africa’s electricity crisis is to continue building coal-fired power stations and a very expensive nuclear power plant, argued Fazila Farouk, executive director of The South African Civil Society Information Service (SACSIS) in her opening remarks at a panel discussion...

An Unenlightened Vision for Energy Security Casts a Pall over Our Future

Picture: Solar farm courtesty TckTckTck Glenn Ashton - Our most recent round of load shedding, coupled to Eskom’s current application to increase power tariffs by over 25 percent, has raised the level of public anger and frustration with both the national power utility and government. Eskom has now ineluctably demonstrated its incapacity to deliver on its mandate to provide reliable electrical power at a reasonable cost, as set out in its 1923 founding charter. So how do we meet the collective challenge, as South Africa Inc., to supply...

Like Iran, South Africa Resists U.S. Nuclear Oversight

Picture: The Pelindaba Nuclear Research Centre, where South Africa stores nearly a quarter ton of uranium courtesy Douglas Birch/Centre for Public Integrity Russ Wellen - At the Center of Public Integrity on nuclear materials, Douglas Birch has written a two-part series on nuclear security in South Africa. In the first, titled “South Africa rebuffs repeated U.S. demands that it relinquish its nuclear explosives,” co-authored with R. Jeffrey Smith, they write about the quarter ton of highly enriched uranium that South Africa still retains decades after ending its nuclear-weapons program in 1989. U.S. officials fear that it could be stolen and...

Nuclear Deal with Iran 95% Complete

Picture: Just Foreign Policy Video As the November 24, deadline approaches for the end of the Iran and P5+1 negotiations, analysts are speculating about the state of negotiations and what it would mean if a deal is signed. The circumstances and tone of the negotiations have changed since Iran is currently being viewed as a potentially valuable partner in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS). Negotiations have reached a level where there is the possibility of the U.S. lifting sanctions against Iran and allowing it to...

The Call for a Referendum on Nuclear Power in South Africa

Picture: Demonstration against the nuclear power plant in Garona, close to the Basque Country courtesy Jon Diez Supat/flickr. Gerard Boyce - In a story that has dominated headlines worldwide over the past few months, Scots were recently asked to decide whether Scotland should become an independent country or remain part of the United Kingdom. They chose to retain the status quo in what was ultimately a very close poll. Regardless of one’s opinion on the outcome thereof, this referendum exemplifies the type of situations, viz. when leaders seek a mandate to pursue major political changes, which will alter the nation’s...