MAY 2007
England Wake up!!
Tony Blair has Decided to Destroy England?
General Electric has fired the starting gun in the race to build a fleet of new nuclear power stations by writing to the Government to say it will compete for a slice of the multi-billion-pound work.
The American group's move surprised some nuclear experts because it came ahead of the Energy White Paper, which is expected in the week starting May 21.
The Government will give guidelines in the White Paper on how it wants companies to bid for the first British nuclear building programme in a generation and several players are waiting until they see the document before putting their hats into the ring.The Chief Executive Andy White wrote to the Department of Trade and Industry and the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) on March 29 to say formally that GE would put its latest reactor design, the ESBWR (Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor), forward for a licence.
The NII must approve reactor designs before their makers can apply to build power stations.The Government last year backed a plan to build six to 10 new reactors to replace Britain's ageing fleet. By 2023 only one reactor, Sizewell B in Suffolk, will still be in operation.
But
its pro-nuclear policy was knocked sideways by an
unexpected court victory by Greenpeace in February, which
forced a judicial review of the process.
| The garden of England was waking up to a
beautiful, sunny morning yesterday, when a series
of shocks left residents fearing a massive gas
blast or terrorist atrocity. The reality was more prosaic, if equally unexpected: the largest earthquake in Britain for five years. It hit at 8.19am, causing widespread damage across Kent. Measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale, the tremor, which lasted for two minutes, was felt as far away as Calais and Brussels. In Folkestone, the worst affected area, several streets were cordoned off by the police and fire services, who received dozens of calls from homeowners reporting collapsed chimneys and large cracks in house walls. Residents reported fearing that there had been an explosion in the Channel Tunnel, which runs nearby. Specialist engineers found no problems with the transport link. The Kent Fire and Rescue Service took more than 200 calls and despatched 130 firefighters to affected areas. About 100 people were evacuated
from their homes by the Salvation Army and power
supplies across the region were disrupted, with
many homes left without gas or electricity. Added: Sunday, 29 April, 2007,
13:49 GMT 14:49 UK Why has there been no mention
of the Euro Tunnel on the News? Surely there must
be concern over its structural integrity after an
earthquake so close by!Wendy,
Gloucestershire apparently the channel tunnel
has to close pending safety inspections following
earthquakes above 4.5. i feel much safer
travelling through the tunnel following a 4.3.
imagine if it was a 4.7 like the american's
measured it .latoise, france
|
| The increasing use of
electronic surveillance to track everything from
a person's sexuality to their spent criminal
convictions is eroding trust in society,
according to the man charged with protecting the
public's privacy. The decision by Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, to warn of the increasing risks associated with a 24/7 surveillance society in which more and more institutions hold personal data comes amid concerns about the way people's electronic records are being used.Two years ago Thomas warned that Britain must not 'sleepwalk' into a surveillance society. His comments this week suggest he fears his concerns are in danger of being realised. While accepting that there are significant benefits in the use of surveillance, chiefly in helping to combat terrorism and crime, Thomas is becoming increasingly alarmed at the amount of information that is being collected on individuals. He is expected to claim that 'the risks that arise as a result of excessive surveillance affect us individually and affect society as a whole' and to warn MPs 'there can be excessive intrusion into people's lives with hidden, unacceptable and detrimental uses'. With the greater use of electronic surveillance and personal record keeping comes an increased threat that mistakes will be made and individual lives disrupted, Thomas believes. In addition, he thinks breaches of security are creating greater potential for discrimination, social sorting and social exclusion, as more institutions are able to 'mine' individual's personal data. Thomas fears that the growing use of surveillance is leading to a mass of personal information that is inaccurate, insufficient or out of date. Often, he believes, information held on individuals is excessive or irrelevant. Sometimes it is disclosed to those who should not have it; on some occasions it is used in unacceptable or unexpected ways. At a wider level, the repercussions of a slide to a surveillance society will be extremely damaging, the information commissioner argues. This will lead to growing concerns that there is an excessive intrusion into private lives and a feeling that personal autonomy and dignity are under threat. |
