BERLIN, July 10 (Reuters) - E.ON Chief Executive Wulf Bernotat said on Thursday he had sensed a shift in the mood for nuclear power in Germany but did not expect an imminent deal to repeal a law to shut the country's nuclear plants by 2021.
Bernotat told journalists in Berlin he believed it would be possible at some point to revoke the law as public opposition to nuclear power wanes.
Stockholm - A reactor at the Swedish nuclear plant Ringhals has been offline for a month after problems with auxiliary coolant pumps were detected during annual maintenance work, the plant said Friday. Two of the three auxiliary pumps had "insufficient capacity," Ringhals spokesman Gosta Larsen told local media.
The maintenance work began early May and the problems were detected during the overhaul.
Suez’s formal withdrawal from the bidding for British Energy further whittles down the official number of European energy groups that have expressed an interest in acquiring all or part of the nuclear power group.
In early April it was thought that British Energy was in discussions with five European energy companies about a possible bid or collaboration. The groups believed to be in the talks at the time were EDF, the French state-controlled energy group, RWE and Eon of Germany, Spain’s Iberdrola, and Centrica of the UK.
Hopes of a bidding war for British Energy were dealt a blow yesterday after it became clear that Vattenfall, Suez and Eon were not planning to bid for the UK nuclear group.
This leaves RWE of Germany and France's EDF as the most likely bidders for the UK government's 35 per cent stake in British Energy before the deadline of Friday, May 9. Both companies - which have power generation operations in the UK - declined to comment.
The Government has vastly underestimated the cost of building a new generation of nuclear power plants, according to the head of the world's largest power company.
Wulf Bernotat, chairman and chief executive of E.ON, the German energy giant that owns Powergen, has told The Times that the cost per plant could be as high as €6 billion (£4.8 billion) - nearly double the Government's latest £2.8 billion estimate.
Hopes of a bidding war for British Energy were dealt a blow yesterday after it became clear that Vattenfall, Suez and Eon were not planning to bid for the UK nuclear group.
This leaves RWE of Germany and France's EDF as the most likely bidders for the UK government's 35 per cent stake in British Energy before the deadline of Friday, May 9. Both companies - which have power generation operations in the UK - declined to comment.
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Urenco Group said 2007 was another successful year for uranium enrichment company in which turnover rose 15 pct on the previous year to surpass 1 billion euros for the first time.
The company, one third owned by the UK government via British Nuclear Fuels Ltd., said full-year pretax profit after minorities grew to 238.5 million euros, largely driven by the strong performance of its existing operations.
Back in 2002, British Energy, the largest power generator in the UK, hosted a Burns Night dinner. Appropriately for a company fiercely proud of its Scottish roots, it was held at the historic Caledonian Club close to Hyde Park Corner in London. Its then chief executive, Robin Jeffrey, wore a kilt, as did many other employees, along with supportive Scottish politicians who attended. In keeping with tradition, diners stood to attention as the cook, accompanied by a bagpiper, brought in the haggis on a large dish. Jeffrey, himself a Scotsman, led the toasts, even reciting a witty ditty - witty to the audience, anyway - asking the government for a larger subsidy.
HELSINKI, March 11 (Reuters) - Energy firm Fennovoima said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy over 200 hectares of land in Simo, northern Finland, for a potential nuclear plant site, securing its second plot in Finland.
The company, a joint venture formed by Finnish steel firm Outokumpu, German utility E.ON and other smaller companies, aims to build a 1,500 to 2,500 megawatt nuclear plant in Finland and hopes the power station would be ready in 2018.
Robin Pagnamenta in Oskarshamn, Sweden
Inside the cavernous hall of a nuclear storage plant in southern Sweden, an 18-tonne steel canister, bristling with tiny fins to draw out excess heat, is being hauled slowly through a hatch by a crane.
Packed with highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel from a reactor north of Stockholm, the canister is being made ready for 30 years of storage in pools sunk into the bedrock. Once it cools sufficiently, it will be placed permanently in a final repository deep underground.
