Nuclear power in Europe

Plans by EDF Energy to build Britain's first nuclear reactor for a generation were in disarray last night after Brussels said that the controversial subsidy deal agreed with the Government could amount to illegal state aid.

In a withering initial assessment, the European Commission said that consumers would end up paying up to £17.6 billion of "super-normal" subsidies via their energy bills to EDF Energy, which is controlled by the French Government.

Its most damning objection was that the subsidies were entirely unnecessary, since nuclear power would become economic by the end of the next decade, according to the Government's own forecasts.

The Czech Republic’s ambition to secure its future energy independence with a $15 billion nuclear expansion will be thwarted unless the state guarantees a price for the power, the country’s largest electricity producer said.

“We won’t build without state guarantees,” Pavel Cyrani, chief of strategy at Prague-based CEZ AS, said in an interview in the city. “It’s simply impossible.”

CEZ, like other power producers in Europe, has seen profit margins squeezed after economic stagnation cut demand, dragging down prices. The utility has delayed choosing a supplier of two new reactors for its Temelin plant pending assurances from the government that the project will make money. The state, CEZ’s main shareholder, is counting on the expansion to counter a loss in capacity as ageing plants are retired over the next 15 years.

A radical plan to dispose of Britain's huge store of civil plutonium - the biggest in the world - by "burning" it in a new type of fast reactor is now officially one of three "credible options" being considered by the Government, The Independent understands.

However, further delays have hit attempts to make a final decision on what to do with the growing plutonium stockpile which has been a recurring headache for successive governments over the past three decades.

Nov 12 (Reuters) - French state-controlled utility EDF will consider extending the depreciation period for its nuclear plants, its chief executive told a newspaper, potentially freeing up cash for the country's promised shift towards greener energy.

Sources close to the matter told Reuters in September that France could help finance a drive for more renewable energy by extending the depreciation period of EDF's nuclear plants, which would boost EDF's profit and the dividends it pays the government.