Display:
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Wed Mar 10th, 2010 at 02:12:02 PM EST
EUobserver / Brussels against exporting nuclear waste outside EU

Brussels is against member states exporting their nuclear waste to countries outside the EU or to store it in joint sites, energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger said, as the commission is working on a set of common safety standards for this dangerous material.

"It is the duty of national politicians to do their homework," Mr Oettinger told Financial Times Deutschland in an interview published on Wednesday (10 March). The German commissioner warned against common storage sites, as well as exporting the radioactive material outside the EU, for instance Russia.



Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Wed Mar 10th, 2010 at 02:16:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
But please no storage site in his home Baden-Württenberg! (For context: Oettinger was among the nuclear-friendly conservative state PMs from Southern Germany pushing for Germany progressing with the presently designated and troubled final storage sites in North Germany.)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Thu Mar 11th, 2010 at 06:21:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
EUobserver / Commission lays out post-Copenhagen climate strategy
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union's climate chief on Tuesday (9 March) told the European Parliament she wants the bloc to forge ahead with cuts in carbon emissions of 30 percent - despite competing powers having yet to make similar pledges - in an attempt to win back EU leadership on the issue, believed to have been lost at the UN climate summit in her native Copenhagen last December.


Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Wed Mar 10th, 2010 at 02:24:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
EUobserver / EU proposals to explore budget and tax co-ordination
Factories close to polluted areas could be forced to help clean them up if there is "plausible evidence" of a link, the EU court has ruled. The case concerns alleged pollution by Italian energy firms ERG, Eni and Syndial in the Priolo-Augusta-Melilli area in southern Sicily.


Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Wed Mar 10th, 2010 at 02:44:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
High-speed rail network plans unveiled - Channel 4 News

The government unveils plans for a high-speed rail network linking London, Birmingham and other major cities across the UK with 250mph trains.

It is likely to be 2025 at the earliest before the first stage of the plan - from London to Birmingham - is completed.

The second stage is expected to extend from Birmingham through cities such as Manchester and Leeds and up to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Announcing the plans today, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said the London to Birmingham section of the route would run from Euston station in London.

He also backed the the creation of two high-speed forks - one going through the East Midlands to Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle, the other travelling to Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow and Edinburgh.

There would also be a Crossrail Interchange station near Paddington, providing a link with Heathrow.



Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Thu Mar 11th, 2010 at 09:16:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Don't hold your breath
Work on the London-Birmingham link would start in 2017, with the line being operational by the latter part of 2025.
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Thu Mar 11th, 2010 at 09:29:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I come out here with an admission: I wish Brown would (barely) survive the elections, if only because Adonis stays on.

Now, given the two decade schedule, another four years of Adonis would change HS2's chances of realisation only from "forget it" to "remote possibility"; but he would at least get the planned electrifications done.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Thu Mar 11th, 2010 at 03:23:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Interesting comment in one of the headbanger rags today - along the lines of 'The line goes through the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire, and Buckinghamshire has more lawyers per square mile than any other county in the UK.'

I don't entirely understand the plan. It seems to be a case of drawing a straight line across a map, ignoring possible gradients and hoping to get planning permission.

I also don't understand why there's no plan to connect it with HS1. Birmingham or points north to Paris/Lille should be a no-brainer, surely?

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Thu Mar 11th, 2010 at 03:50:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It seems to be a case of drawing a straight line across a map, ignoring possible gradients and hoping to get planning permission.

Hm? Do you mean the straight line in the Channel 4 article? But you'll find the detailed route maps here. It's very detailed, they even bothered with vertical curvature radius. You also find the different route options studied in chapters 5-7 of the report.

no plan to connect it with HS1

It's in the above linked part of the report, Chapter 9. Three options are investigated. It ends with:

The capital cost of the options for connecting to HS1 are presented below.

  • Option 1 = £457,730,400
  • Option 2 = £812,165,920
  • Option 3 = £3,595,290,000


*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Thu Mar 11th, 2010 at 06:21:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That's what you get for taking the word of one of the headbanger Tory dailies. [sigh...]
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Thu Mar 11th, 2010 at 10:28:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password
Occasional Series