Areva

Problems at French nuclear construction site for company seeking Ont. contract

Sunday, April 6, 2008

One of the companies competing to build new nuclear reactors in Ontario has run into trouble with regulators in France.

The French nuclear safety watchdog says there are a number of serious infractions in the Areva construction of a reactor in northern France - the same type of reactor it wants to sell to Ontario.

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Ukraine's nuclear authorities are playing with fire

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Tatyana Sinitsyna) - Ukrainian politicians have made one more move aimed at easing their dependence on Russia's nuclear fuel supplies.

In late March, Ukraine's nuclear power company Energoatom signed a five-year contract with U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Company to provide nuclear fuel to three Ukrainian reactors at the Yuzhnoukrainsky nuclear power plant in 2011-2015.

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Siemens sees impact from Finnish plant delay

Monday, March 31, 2008

FRANKFURT, March 31 (Reuters) - German engineering group Siemens expects a "not insignificant" financial impact from delays in completing a nuclear power plant in Finland, a German daily reported on Monday.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted a Siemens spokesman as saying: "That is certainly aggravating."

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French nuclear sector risks serious lack of staff

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

PARIS, March 10 (Reuters) - France, the world's second largest producer of atomic energy, must act fast to avoid a shortage of skilled staff to run its reactors and win a role at the heart of a global nuclear revival.

An ageing workforce, a lack of courses and low enthusiasm among young engineers, for a field that is often seen as secretive or unsafe, all threaten France's ambitions for nuclear power.
"The ageing workforce issue is keeping countless CEOs awake at night," consultancy firm Capgemini said in a report titled "Preparing for the nuclear power renaissance".

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'Dirty bomb' threat as UK ships plutonium to France

Monday, March 10, 2008

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor - Sunday, 9 March 2008 - From Sellafield, an ordinary, unarmed ferry is to transport weapons-ready plutonium – material that could easily be used to make a 'dirty bomb'

Weapons-ready plutonium that terrorists could easily make into a nuclear bomb is to be carried hundreds of miles down the west coast of Britain in an unarmed ship, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

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Bulgaria prefers nuclear to wind, solar power-EconMin

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

SOFIA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Bulgaria should push ahead with plans to build a new nuclear power plant rather than opt for wind and solar power to solve its energy problems, the economy and energy minister said on Wednesday.

Petar Dimitrov told a conference estimates showed that his Balkan country's wind power potential was equal to the capacity of 2,000 megawatts of its Kozloduy nuclear power plant, which supplies about 33 percent of Bulgaria's power.

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Locals struggling at Sellafield

Monday, February 25, 2008

The complex job of cleaning up Britain’s dirtiest nuclear site is drawing some of the world’s biggest engineering companies to the poorest corner of north-west England, but local companies are wondering how they will fare in the fight for lucrative contracts.

Sellafield, in Cumbria, is the biggest prize currently available in nuclear decommissioning, with decades of work to undo the problems caused by 50 years of atomic research.

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Turkey delays inauguration of first nuclear plant tender

Friday, February 22, 2008

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP): Turkey on Thursday delayed the opening of a tender for the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant.

The energy ministry was waiting for a government audit agency to comment on the tender's technical details before potential bidders could be invited, state-run media said. Officials said earlier but it was not clear how long the delay would be.

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France and the Middle East: Nicolas Sarkozy's Nuclear Option

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Judah Grunstein | 13 Feb 2008

PARIS -- When Nicolas Sarkozy took office last May, everyone expected him to be an active president. Known for his relentless pace and tireless work ethic, Sarkozy had promised to reinvigorate France's foreign policy, which had suffered from an accumulation of failure and fatigue under his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. To that end, Sarkozy has not disappointed. In a little over eight months as president, he has visited 25 countries on four continents, strengthening historic bonds (America), nurturing new ones (China, India), and above all raising France's profile around the world.

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Areva declares interest in Turkey nuclear plant project

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

ISTANBUL (Thomson Financial) - French nuclear giant Areva said it is interested in a planned tender for the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant.

'We are going to meet the (Turkish) energy minister (Hilmi Guler) and we will clearly indicate to him that the Areva company is interested,' Gabriel Saltarelli, head of the company's commercial affairs in Central and Eastern Europe, told reporters.

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