Climate sceptics?


Climate change is an often heard argument for the once called nuclear "renaissance". However, if one looks closer, there was something fishy about the industry using climate change protection as its most prominent feature... » Read more

More then thirty years of debate, and the controversy remains as polarised as ever. This website (to be fair - whose maintainer is anti-nuclear) collects news about nuclear power in Europe, sorted by nuclear power plant, type of power plant, country etc.

By presenting different (media) angles on current nuclear issues, we hope to be able to cut out some spin, either pro or against, and to allow the reader to make up his or her own mind about today's pro's and con's of nuclear power.

In the menu on the right you can select your country, the nuclear power plant in your neighbourhood, or your favourite company and read latest (most English) news about it.

Latest nuclear news

EDF blames seaweed after halting nuclear reactors

Saturday, May 25, 2013

EDF Energy has been forced to halt both reactors at its 1,280 megawatt (MW) Torness nuclear plant near Edinburgh after a rising tide of seaweed threatened to clog its cooling system.

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Burning ship had tonnes of radioactive material

Friday, May 17, 2013

After a freighter went up in flames at the start of the month while carrying radioactive material into Hamburg's harbour, it has emerged that the German port city receives such hazardous cargo up to seven times a month.

Fire fighters said they had only narrowly been able to prevent a catastrophe on May 1st when the freighter "Atlantic Cartier" caught fire - complete with its radioactive load.

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Centrica stokes energy fears by revealing EDF nuclear timescale has doubled

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Centrica has ratcheted up fears over Britain’s energy security by warning that its rival EDF will take twice as long as originally planned to build the first of a new generation of nuclear power stations.

The British Gas owner abandoned its 20pc stake in the £14bn project at Hinkley Point in February, opting instead to give £500m back to shareholders and invest in gas in North America.

Sir Roger Carr, Centrica chairman, told its AGM on Monday that since it first considered the project the price had “rocketed hugely”, adding: “Nuclear is not a cheap option.”

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EDF Energy chief ready to quit if Hinkley Point deal collapses

Monday, May 6, 2013

The chief executive of EDF Energy will leave Britain if the French company's £14 billion Hinkley Point reactor project collapses.

Vincent de Rivaz, the longest-serving boss of Britain's Big Six energy companies, has staked his credibility on getting the plan to build Britain's first new reactors for decades off the ground.

However, the chances of the project going ahead are receding, with EDF Energy and the Government in a stand-off over the level of subsidies - funded by levies on consumers' bills - that the company will receive.

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Mitsubishi, Areva Sign $22b Turkish Nuclear Plant Deal

Friday, May 3, 2013

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Areva SA of France signed a $22 billion agreement today to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey, the first major order for Japan since the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Ankara to oversee the signing of the accord for the building of Turkey’s second nuclear plant in Sinop province on the Black Sea coast.

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Heysham Power Station reactor shut down as precaution

Friday, May 3, 2013

A nuclear reactor was shut down at Heysham Power Station after smoke was seen coming from the plant.

The Heysham 1 reactor was shut down at 6pm on Thursday as a precaution after smoke within some lagging on a turbine was spotted.

EDF, who run the station, said a dry powder extinguisher was used to deal with the smoke.

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Twitter row after Oettinger dubs UK nuclear plans ‘Soviet’

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

A prominent clean energy campaigner has been banned from the European Energy Forum after tweeting remarks made by the EU’s energy commissioner describing the UK’s plan to hand out long-term contracts to nuclear companies as “Soviet”.

Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger’s putdown of the €16.5-billion British plan will likely be met with furrowed brows in London, where the 35-40-year contracts have proved controversial to some because of their length, nature and the scale of the subsidy involved.

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Move to deal with deadly legacy of nuclear power plants

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Britain is set to tackle a 60-year-old problem that has dogged successive governments: how to resolve the deadly legacy from the country's first generation of nuclear power plants.

The UK is home to the world's largest stockpile of plutonium, with more than 100 tonnes of the highly radioactive material.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, whose job it is to look after the plutonium, is preparing to give its recommendation on how the government should deal with the problem, with an announcement expected as early as next month.

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EDF Energy to cut jobs to control cost of building nuclear power station

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

EDF energy is cutting scores of jobs to control costs at the site of its proposed new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The company is in the middle of difficult negotiations with ministers over the level of public subsidy the new reactors will receive over the next 40 years but insisted the project is not being mothballed and that it is not "holding a gun to the government's head".

The company has already spent £800m on developing the £14bn project and lost its junior partner when Centrica pulled out in February. "As part of good project management, and to control costs, EDF Energy has taken steps to refocus its activities at its Hinkley Point C project," said a spokeswoman. "This reflects its priorities ahead of securing the financing necessary for the project."

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Emergency shutdown at Bulgaria nuclear plant after hydrogen leak in cooling system

Monday, April 15, 2013

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Officials say a turbo generator at Bulgaria’s only nuclear power station has been shut down due to a hydrogen leak in its cooling system but insist there is no danger to the public.

A statement Monday from the Kozloduy power plant said the component that was shut down was part of its conventional, non-nuclear unit. It said “there were no changes in the radioactivity level at the plant.”

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