(VILNIUS) - Lithuania's parliament on Monday called a referendum on plans for an atomic power plant to replace a Soviet-era facility closed under the terms of Lithuania's entry into the European Union.
Sixty-two lawmakers voted in favour of the opposition proposal to hold the referendum, which will not be binding, in tandem with the Baltic state's general election on October 14, while 39 were against and 18 abstained.
The launch of a flagship nuclear power station in Finland has been delayed for a third time, officials say.
Finnish electricity company TVO says the Olkiluoto 3 plant will not be ready by the latest deadline of 2014 and a new timetable has not yet been set.
It is not an easy game, it never has been. Turkey now seems to be closer to realizing its bid for its first nuclear power plant than ever before.
Some, however, argue the country may find itself far from this dream due to some unanticipated problems that may occur behind closed doors. But isn’t there a remedy to erase all lingering doubts about the planned plant?
Government negotiations with French energy giant EDF over subsidies for new nuclear power are being conducted in “a smoke-filled room”, the chief executive of rival company SSE claimed yesterday.
Ian Marchant attacked the lack of transparency in the talks as he warned MPs on the energy select committee that ministers’ plans to reform the energy sector were so complex and risky as to leave consumers “paying a higher price”.
The government's energy policy has suffered a fresh blow when GDF Suez, the French firm behind plans to build a new nuclear plant in Cumbria, said it needed more financial incentives if it was to proceed.
Gérard Mestrallet, chairman and chief executive of GDF, said he wanted talks with the government about a fixed or minimum price for producing nuclear energy: "We are, with our partners, going to take a decision in 2015 [on building a new plant at Sellafield]. Today it is very difficult to invest in a nuclear power plant without clear visibility."
The German government ill consider setting up a publicly administered fund to manage the disposal of nuclear waste from its power plants, environment minister Norbert Röttgen said following the publication of a Greenpeace report on Wednesday.
Greenpeace has called for a public fund because it fears German nuclear operators Eon, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall may go bankrupt or try to wriggle out of their obligations after 2022, when the last of Germany’s reactors are due to close.
China appears to be edging ahead in the international contest to build a new nuclear power station on Turkey’s Black Sea coast – a sign of how the ambitions of its nuclear companies are poised to reshape the global nuclear industry.
Beijing is not looking for government guarantees for the project and can supply its own financing, according to an Ankara official, pointing to China’s advantage in the race to build the reactor for Turkey.
TEMELIN, Czech Republic, March 30 (Reuters) - The Czech government sees building new nuclear power plants as a strategic priority and is considering minimum electricity price guarantees to ensure new reactors are built, the country's industry minister said on Friday.
In contrast to countries such as neighbouring Germany that are pulling out of nuclear energy in light of the disaster at Japan's Fukushima a year ago, the Czech Republic aims to enlarge the existing Temelin site in the south of the country.
(Reuters) - German utilities E.ON and RWE have shelved their plans to build new nuclear plants in Britain, sources told Reuters on Thursday.
"The companies want to withdraw from that," said a source close to the companies and informed about the developments. Both companies and their joint venture Horizon declined to comment.
SOFIA, March 28 (Reuters) - Bulgaria has abandoned plans to build the 2,000 megawatt Belene nuclear power plant on the Danube River and will construct a new gas power plant instead, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said on Wednesday.
The Belene project has failed to attract serious foreign investors in the past three years after Germany's RWE pulled out in 2009 due to funding concerns.
