Nuclear power in Europe

MOSCOW. Aug 29 (Interfax) - Generating Unit No. 2 of the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant has been reconnected into Russia's electricity grid after routine safety maintenance, Russia's nuclear power plants operator, Rosenergoatom, said in a press release.
All of the plant's four generating units are currently in operation.

Macedonia, under international regulations applying to countries with nuclear waste, must construct a depot to store radioactive materials. However, opposition by residents of potential locations has thwarted the country from complying with the requirement. The struggle to find a depot site has continued for five years.

The latest case attracting public attention is that of Sopiste Municipality, outside Skopje, which refuses to allow construction of a depot on its territory. The facility would store residues from devices using radioactive elements -- such as old lightning rods or laboratory and X-ray residue. Currently, temporary dumps in unsafe urban locations, namely, the grounds of the Brazing Institute and former Radioisotope Centre, contain the country´s nuclear waste.

Sealing radioactive waste at an underground disposal site in Asse, Germany, by flooding is the cheapest of several waste management options but would produce dangerous amounts of radioactive methane in
groundwater within 150-750 years, according to a forthcoming report from the German radiation protection agency (BfS). The findings are significant because the site, an ex-salt mine containing nuclear research waste, is geologically similar to the planned long-term disposal site at Gorleben. The report could influence calculations of nuclear waste disposal costs.

The nuclear industry in Britain is killing billions of fish every year and taking a devastating toll of stocks, an Oxford University academic suggests.

The impact can be so severe in the worst-affected regions of the seas around Britain that death rates are equivalent to half the commercial catch for some species.