Areva and EDF, the French nuclear groups, have both defended the cost of new nuclear projects despite the €2bn of extra cost overruns on their flagship next-generation reactor at Flamanville in Normandy.
The news that the reactor, the first built in France for 15 years, is expected to cost €8.5bn rather than the €3.3bn first forecast comes as questions are raised about whether nuclear power remains affordable.
Restarting two Belgian nuclear power plants which have been shut since the discovery of micro-cracks in their reactor vessels would be a hazardous move with potentially “catastrophic consequences”, according to a new study commissioned by the Green Party group in the European Parliament.
“A possible failure of the reactor due to sudden crack growth in case of local thermal stresses cannot be excluded and would have catastrophic consequences, especially in the vicinity of densely populated and high-economic activity areas,” it says.
Swedish energy group Vattenfall is reportedly reclaiming losses resulting from the German government's decision last year to shut down older nuclear reactors. The claim is reportedly backed by the Swedish government.
The Swedish business daily Dagens Industri reported Friday that Vattenfall was seeking damages to the tune of about 3.5 billion euros ($4.6 billion).
The nuclear plan decided to shut down ahead of new taxes included in a government energy reform that would render the plant unviable.
Spain's oldest nuclear plant Garoña is shutting down on Sunday ahead of new taxes included in a government energy reform that would render the plant unviable.
Two of Belgium's nuclear reactions have been standing idle since the summer, but in a report for the government and the Belgian nuclear watchdog electricity generator Electrabel says that both Doel 3 in Flanders and Tihange 2 in Wallonia can be taken back into service forthwith.
The reactors were shut down after thousands of tiny tears were discovered in a valve linked to the reactor vessel.
Chief Executive Luc Oursel said the reactor in Olkiluoto will ultimately cost about 8 billion euros, same as a similar reactor it is building in Flamanville, in northern France. That's well over the last cost estimate of around EUR6.4 billion.
"Our estimation is that the whole project (in Finland) will have a cost in constant euros close to Flamanville," Mr. Oursel said during a press conference.
(Reuters) - The new Dutch government picked ABN Amro to advise on the future of its 33 percent stake in UK-based uranium enrichment company Urenco, three people familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday.
The previous government had hired Credit Suisse to examine its strategy regarding Urenco's ownership, but this mandate was not renewed after a government reshuffle in September and staff changes at the Swiss bank, one source said.
STOCKHOLM--The Oskarshamn 2 nuclear reactor in southern Sweden will be taken offline Thursday after the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority ordered an immediate shut-down due to safety concerns.
The authority said the reactor's operator, OKG, which is owned by German utility E.ON AG and Finnish Fortum Oyj, hasn't been able to show that important safety functions comply with the required standards.
The authority's concerns relate mainly to diesel generators which are part of the plant's backup power system.
PARIS (Reuters) - French utility EDF has raised the cost of the construction of its next-generation nuclear reactor by more than 2 billion euros on Monday, the latest in a series of overruns for the first EPR reactor built in France.
Stricter regulation in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster contributed to bringing the total cost of the 1,600-MW Flamanville European pressurized reactor to 8.5 billion euros ($11.11 billion), the group said.
British Gas owner Centrica is expected to write off £200m when it pulls out of the country's nuclear new build programme in the new year.
Centrica has the option of taking a 20 per cent stake in building nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk alongside French group EDF.
