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Eight nuclear locations outlined

The government says nuclear has definite role to play in the UK’s future energy supply

The government has identified eight sites as potentially suitable for future nuclear power stations while ruling out a further three.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said Dungeness in Kent and both Braystones and Kirksanton in Cumbria were not suitable for environmental reasons.

While nuclear had a key role to play, he hoped half of all new capacity by 2025 would come from renewables.

But he ruled out plans for a tidal energy scheme on the Severn estuary.

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Funding a Severn barrage with public money would be “very costly”, he said, and as finding private investment would be challenging, other options should be pursued.

The last Labour government approved eleven locations as suitable for new nuclear plants by 2025 – most on the site of existing plants – but this has been cut to eight as part of a revised draft policy statement presented to Parliament on Monday.

The possible locations are: Bradwell, Essex; Hartlepool, Borough of Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Oldbury, Gloucestershire; Sellafield, Cumbria; Sizewell, Suffolk and Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey.

The BBC’s Environmental Analyst Roger Harrabin said this did not mean the projects – which would be subject to planning permission – would go ahead as Mr Huhne has insisted there would be no public subsidies available for them.

Nuclear power is a potential flashpoint within the coalition government with many leading Lib Dems sceptical about the merits of a new generation of nuclear plants and the Conservatives more enthusiastic. Roger Harrabin said the definition of what constituted a subsidy was likely to be fought over in the coming months.

Critics say the UK is at risk of an energy crisis by the middle of the next decade when many of the existing nuclear plants will reach the end of their lives.

Mr Huhne said the country needed a diverse energy mix with contributions from all sectors but with more emphasis on renewables such as wind power.

“I’m fed up with the stand-off between advocates of renewables and of nuclear which means we have neither,” he said.

“We urgently need investment in new and diverse energy sources to power the UK. We’ll need renewables, new nuclear, fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage and the cables to hook them all up to the National Grid as a large slice of our current generating capacity shuts down.

“I am making clear that new nuclear will be free to contribute as much as possible with the onus on developers to pay for the clean-up,” he added.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Tobin drops Vicky sentence appeal

Serial killer Peter Tobin drops his appeal against his life sentence for murdering schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Bailed striker told to live with captain

Andy Carroll has recently signed a new contract with Newcastle

Newcastle United and England striker Andy Carroll is due to appear in court later charged with assault.

Northumbria Police have refused to release details of the incident which led to the player’s arrest.

Carroll, who has just signed a new long-term deal at the club, will appear before Tynedale magistrates.

The 21-year-old helped Newcastle earn promotion back to the Premier League after being relegated to the Championship in 2009.

A brief police statement said: “Andrew Thomas Carroll, 21, previously of Prestwick, Newcastle, has been charged with assault.

“He is due to appear before Tynedale Magistrates this morning.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Al-Shabab lose Somali border town

Pro-Somali government forces have seized the town of Bulo Hawo on the border with Kenya and Ethiopia from the hardline Islamist group al-Shabab.

This is seen as a significant victory for the weak, UN-backed government against the al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Al-Shabab and their allies control most of southern and central Somalia but pro-government forces have been gaining ground in recent weeks.

Kenya has responded by boosting security along the border.

The BBC’s Bashkas Jugsodaay in northern Kenya says many people have fled the fighting into Kenya.

He says they have not come as refugees but are staying with relatives until the situation is calm.

They have mostly gone to the Kenyan town of Mandera, just 3km (two miles) from Bulo Hawo.

Somalia’s government says 11 al-Shabab fighters and one government soldier were killed in Sunday’s fighting.

It says the militants’ black flag was replaced with the blue and white Somali national one on all government buildings.

Government forces have recently gained ground around Mogadishu from al-Shabab

The moderate Islamist group, Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama, helped government forces against al-Shabab.

There has also been fighting around the town of Beledweyne, north-east of Bulo Hawo.

Beledweyne is controlled by al-Shabab but government forces have advanced to within 20km (13 miles).

The government has this month seized several parts of the capital, Mogadishu, from al-Shabab, with the help of African Union peacekeepers.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Peter Robinson called the Northern Ireland education system “a benign form of apartheid”

The head of the Catholic Principals Association in Northern Ireland has accused the first minister of rabble rousing.

Dr Seamus Quinn said Peter Robinson’s words were “a throwback to the bad old days of religious intolerance”.

It followed Mr Robinson’s comments that the NI education system was “a benign form of apartheid”.

On Friday, he said that while he had no objection to church schools, he objected to the state funding them.

“To attack our sector in the manner the first minister has appears little more than rabble rousing and a throw back to the bad old days of religious intolerance”

Dr Seamus Quinn CPA

But Dr Quinn, chairman of the Catholic Principals Association (CPA) said: “The fundamental right of parents to seek a faith-based education for their child must be acknowledged.

“The first minister’s recent utterances, marking the appointment of a DUP mayor, appear to seek the removal of this parental right.

“Mr Robinson should be well aware why Northern Ireland has a Catholic-managed system, the Northern Ireland state having singularly failed to provide for its Catholic population from inception.”

Dr Quinn said the Catholic authorities had, for many years, provided a network of schools paid for and run by the Church with minimum state support.

“Students from these successful Catholic schools challenged the blatant social injustices facing the minority population and have, in no small measure, transformed Northern Ireland,” he said.

“It was as late as the 1990s before Catholic schools finally achieved parity of funding with state schools.

“However, the years of chronic under-investment by the state in Catholic schools has yet to be fully addressed.”

At the weekend, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said Mr Robinson was making a mistake.

‘Mistake’

“If Peter thinks taking on the Catholic Church, the Catholic bishops and indeed the Protestant churches for that matter and other interest groups is a sensible route to go, I think that is a big mistake,” he said.

“I think what we have to do is try and achieve and continue to build a consensus within our society about the need to develop shared services.

“If you go for a head-on collision with the so-called vested interests, that is a collision course which will lead us into a total and absolute mess.”

On Friday, speaking at the installation of a DUP mayor in Castlereagh, Mr Robinson also said he wanted to set up a commission to look at the total integration of the different sectors.

He compared the system to South Africa during apartheid where black and white children were educated separately.

In an apparent reference to Catholic schools, he said he had no objection to church schools but he did object to the state paying for them.

“It may take ten years or longer to address this problem, which dates back many decades, but the real crime would be to accept the status quo for the sake of a quiet life,” he said.

“The benefits of such a system are not merely financial but could play a transformative role in changing society in Northern Ireland.”

He added that there were a number of “knotty issues” such as “religious education, school assembly devotions and the curriculum”.

“Future generations will not thank us if we fail to address this issue,” the DUP leader said.

It would be difficult to dislodge “vested interests”, he said, but was “convinced” that it should be done.

The DUP position has been that the state – or controlled – sector was non-denominational and could be used by those of all religions and none.

Mr Robinson said he was proposing a single education system, rather than enlarging the integrated system which he did not believe would create the critical mass needed to make a real difference.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.