Climate change is an often heard argument for the once called nuclear "renaissance". However, if one looks closer, there was something fishy about the industry using climate change protection as its most prominent feature... » Read more
More then thirty years of debate, and the controversy remains as polarised as ever. This website (to be fair - whose maintainer is anti-nuclear) collects news about nuclear power in Europe, sorted by nuclear power plant, type of power plant, country etc.
By presenting different (media) angles on current nuclear issues, we hope to be able to cut out some spin, either pro or against, and to allow the reader to make up his or her own mind about today's pro's and con's of nuclear power.
In the menu on the right you can select your country, the nuclear power plant in your neighbourhood, or your favourite company and read latest (most English) news about it.
Latest nuclear news
Finland halts work on nuclear reactor over safety concerns
Friday, August 22, 2008Finland’s fifth nuclear power plant, which is currently under construction, has been put on ice pending new studies on the safety of its building methods. The suspension resulted from a report recently issued by Greenpeace that found irregularities in the welding.
Although Finland’s nuclear safety authority (STUK) rejected many of the claims made by Greenpeace, it will conduct intensive studies on the safety and quality of the welds, which are critical parts of the reactors’ structure. STUK’s Assistant Director Petteri Tiippana said, “The ministry will ask for a report from us on this issue very soon and we are planning to respond to that within the next week”.
Finland seeks details on nuclear safety checks
Thursday, August 21, 2008HELSINKI (Thomson Financial) - The Finnish government said Thursday it wanted the country's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) to clarify its inspection principles, following criticism of its work at a nuclear reactor building site.
'The (economy) ministry wants further reports from STUK on its inspection principles and precision, and how these compare to practices in other countries,' the Finnish employment and economy ministry, in charge of energy industry issues, said in a statement.
Burnt nuclear reactor site visited
Thursday, August 21, 2008For the first time since a fire 50 years ago, engineers have taken a look inside the Windscale Pile 1 reactor at the Sellafield nuclear plant.
The decommissioning team looked inside the affected area with an endoscope to take pictures from the core, allowing for the removal of the remaining fuel and isotopes in the reactor pile.
In 1957 one of the two reactor piles caught fire and caused Britain's worst nuclear accident, releasing masses of radiation into the countryside.
Foreigners to hold key positions at first unit of Belarus' nuclear power plant
Thursday, August 21, 2008Foreigners will be given key positions at the first of the two units of Belarus' future nuclear power plant, Uladzimir Petrushkevich, an engineer at the project management office, told reporters in Minsk on Tuesday.
Training personnel for a nuclear power plant is rather time-consuming and is impossible without trainees getting some hands-on experience, Mr. Petrushkevich said. Therefore it will be safer to employ foreigners with the necessary expertise to run the first unit of the plant, which is to be put into operation as early as 2016, Mr. Petrushkevich said.
Repairs completed on Chernobyl protective shell
Thursday, August 21, 2008MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Atomstroyexport, a Russian nuclear power construction company, said on Tuesday it had completed repairs on the concrete and steel shell encasing the Chernobyl reactor one month ahead of schedule.
The work involved repairs of an area around 420 square meters over the central part of the reactor's protective shelter.
Six Arrested In An Anti-Nuclear Protest
Thursday, August 21, 2008Six people protesting the nuclear power plant planned to be built in Sinop, a Black Sea Coast Town, are taken into custody. The Greens Party asks the government to cancel the plan.
According to the announcement the Greens Party made today (August 20), the six people protesting the planned nuclear plant by having a sit-in in front of the Turkish Atomic Energy Institution (TAEK) in Sinop were taken into custody.
Uranium mining, nuclear power and 'ethical' investment
Wednesday, August 20, 2008A recent Corporate Watch Australia survey reveals that many so-called ethical investment funds invest in uranium mining.
The number has risen significantly in recent years. Some fund managers justify investment in uranium with questionable arguments about nuclear power and climate change, but the primary reason for the shift is probably BHP Billiton's entry into the uranium industry with its 2005 acquisition of WMC Resources, which owns the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia.
Kazatomprom aims for top nuclear spot
Wednesday, August 20, 2008As the nuclear industry enjoys a global revival, Kazatomprom is positioning itself to overtake Cameco as the world's largest producer of uranium. It said in July that it expects to achieve this as early as next year, rather than in 2010 as originally planned.
The progress of Kazakhstan's national atomic company is to a large degree due to the vision of its charismatic president Mukhtar Dzhakishev, helped by the country's substantial uranium reserves and the Soviet technical legacy.
Georgia chaos halts nuclear security effort
Wednesday, August 20, 2008WASHINGTON - The chaos in Georgia has forced the United States to halt a high-priority program that was helping the former Soviet republic to identify possible smugglers of nuclear bomb components across its borders, long considered a transit point for terrorists seeking to obtain weapons of mass destruction, according to US officials.
A team from the US Nuclear Security Administration was providing Georgian authorities with radiation equipment and training at key border crossings and the Batumi airport on the country's Black Sea coast when Russia invaded two weeks ago. The advisers were forced to flee the country within days, according to a spokesman from the Department of Energy.
Pekkarinen: Export of nuclear electricity could compel Finland to accept waste from abroad
Wednesday, August 20, 2008inister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre) warns that producing electricity for export in nuclear power plants could oblige Finland to accept imports of nuclear waste from abroad for storage in this country.
Last week, Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen, who is also the chairman of the conservative National Coalition Party, called for a decision to authorise the construction of two new commercial nuclear reactors during the current Parliamentary term.