Greenpeace Finland said in a statement Monday that Brussels-based lobby the European Renewable Energies Federation had brought an action before the European Court of Justice challenging the European commission's September 2007 declaration that a 570-million-euro guarantee granted by Coface, a privatised company that continues to act in its eponymous role as the French government's export guarantee agency, to Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) did not constitute illegal state aid.
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European renewables lobby sues commission over Finnish nuke
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
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The nuclear option
Saturday, June 28, 2008Gordon Brown has committed Britain to a nuclear future, but can a new generation of reactors shed their murky, costly image in time to solve the looming energy crisis?
Greenpeace tries to delay French reactor work
Wednesday, June 25, 2008PARIS (Reuters) - Greenpeace France activists on Wednesday blocked for the second day the entrances of three of the four quarries used by EDF to build its new-generation nuclear reactor, the environmentalist group said.
But French power group EDF said the action was not preventing building of the 1,600-megawatts reactor.
Safety authority asks for steam generator measures
Tuesday, June 24, 2008Electricité de France has been given until 30 September to implement preventative safety measures in steam generators at its French nuclear reactors including plugging tubes affected by an anomaly in anti-vibration measures.
France's Nuclear Safety Authority (Autorité De Sûreté Nucléaire, ASN) has released a letter issued to the utility on 24 April calling for some steam generator tubes to be plugged to prevent the risk of their rupturing. The company must also implement enhanced measures to detect leaks between primary and secondary coolant circuits pending the completion of the plugging work.
Gordon Brown seeks Sellafield nuclear deal with Japan
Monday, June 23, 2008The Prime Minister Gordon Brown will talk to his Japanese counterpart, Yasuo Fukuda, at the G8 meeting in Hokkaido next month about a potential £1bn a year deal which would boost the UK's nuclear industry.
Mr Brown and Mr Fukuda will discuss a contract to reprocess fuel at Sellafield in Cumbria to be used in Japan's nuclear reactors, industry sources said.
French watchdog fears for reactor project skills
Monday, June 23, 2008France’s nuclear safety watchdog intends to “make an example” of the country's first reactor project in 20 years, amid concerns that many of the skills for building nuclear power stations may have been lost.
The watchdog had ordered EDF, operator of France’s 58 nuclear power stations, to halt work three weeks ago after it discovered problems with quality controls and with the iron frame of the concrete structure being put in place by Bouygues, the French construction group.
Lack of engineers puts government's nuclear power ambitions at risk
Monday, June 23, 2008Government plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations risk delays after warnings by its own inspectors that no decision can be made on reactor designs because of a shortage of skilled engineers.
Delays in receiving documentation from various parties and the difficulties of talking to overseas regulators and receiving final reactor designs are referred to in a letter from Mike Weightman, chief inspector at the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), to the Department for Business Enterpriseand Regulatory Reform.
Enel boosts Slovak Mochovce nuclear plant capacity
Tuesday, June 17, 2008BRATISLAVA, June 16 (Reuters) - Italy's utility Enel said on Monday it has boosted the installed capacity at Slovakia's nuclear power plant Mochovce by seven percent to ease the country's electricity import needs. Enel, majority owner of leading domestic power firm Slovenske Elektrarne which operates Mochovce, said the capacity boost was to offset the decommissioning of two units at the country's oldest nuclear power plant at Jaslovske Bohunice.
Reactor at Swedish nuclear plant offline
Friday, June 13, 2008Stockholm - 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.
Areva seeks leading role in UK nuclear
Monday, June 9, 2008Areva, the French nuclear reactor manufacturer, aims to dominate the next wave of UK nuclear power generation after receiving government assurances that its goal of supplying the technology for all the nation’s new reactors would not breach competition rules.
