What am I reading?

SHEPHERD, ELIZABETH, and YEO, GEOFFREY, 2003. Managing Records: A Handbook of Principles and Practice. London: Facet Publishing. See the content page online.

Abstracting skill

For an example of my abstracting work, have a look at the article from the link below and read my abstract that follows:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,,1812795,00.html

Abstract:

According to safety assessments by the Nuclear Safety Directorate (NSD) in June 2005, major cracks have been known at four Britain nuclear sites, Hinkley Point B in Somerset, Hartlepool in Cleveland, Hunterston B in Ayrshire, and Heysham 1 in Lancashire. The documents hinted core damage at the Dungeness in Kent and Torness in East Lothian sites. NSD criticises British Energy, the operator for 13 advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactors (AGR), for not knowing the extent of damage, unable to monitor the deterioration or understand entirely the reason for the cracks.
The remedy favoured by the NSD is more probing inspections of the AGR plants’ reactor cores more often, which requires the reactors to be shut down for weeks and would cause chaos to Britain’s electricity supplies. Furthermore, the closure of Hinkley Point would mean at least three other similar age stations would have to be closed due to the cracks. Back in 2004, British Energy already warned that the normal 30-year life span of AGR plants might be reduced by the cracks in the graphite brick cores.
In particular, NSD’s inspection of Hinkley in April 2006 revealed rising accident risk from its continued operation and possible serious faults leading to long term or permanent closure, though ruling out immediate radiation danger to the public. But independent nuclear engineer John Large advised the government to shut down the reactors immediately until they are cleared of any safety uncertainties. His argument was backed by the conclusion of an inspector in June 2005 that the worst case scenario would have to be assumed unless British Energy makes progress in addressing the cracks. Mr. Large has reviewed the papers obtained through the Freedom of Information legislation by a local nuclear watchdog group of Greenpeace, Stop Hinkley, which has revealed more details than publicly known before.
British Energy answered the reports with claims that they have provided new evidence to the NSD and they have been working on monitoring the cores without plant closure. Furthermore, the assessments are part of the on-going regulatory process and NSD works closely with British Energy on the issue.
The surface of the documents coincides with the call for a new generation of nuclear power by the Prime Minister and Chancellor just two weeks before the government’s energy review. Greenpeace executive director Stephen Tindale accused the government and British Energy of incompetent and John Large is cynical about the NSD’s reluctance to call for closure of Hinkley Point at this politically critical time.