Nuclear power in Europe

Kyiv, November 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft agreement with the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan about the joint participation in the International uranium enrichment center in Angarsk, Irkutsk region, Russia.

The Cabinet of Ministers passed a respective resolution on November 19 2008.

Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation has presented to the Energy Ministry its vision of the scenarios of Russia's nuclear development depending on how the financial crisis unfolds, the state corporation's deputy chief Alexander Lokshin told RBC today. He explained that the move had been made at the request of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, adding that other ministries and agencies were also required to submit their forecasts. The information is to be reviewed at a meeting of a commission headed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov.

European energy markets are likely to have a difficult wake-up once the recession is over if essential infrastructure investments are delayed, consultancy firm Capgemini said Monday.

"The credit crunch should short-circuit the investment cycle, leading to a lack of generation capacities and infrastructures," it said in its tenth European Energy Markets Observatory report.

PARIS, Nov 25 (Reuters) - French energy strikers cut a total of 4,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity and 1,000 MW of thermal capacity since Monday night, an official at the CGT union told Reuters on Tuesday.

French strikers are holding a 24-hour strike to protest against salaries and pensions.

"The strike has cut a total of 5,000 MW, this is a very positive outcome for us," the union official said, adding that strikers had been warned by EDF not to cut more capacity to avoid endangering the supply/demand balance.