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
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.
Turkey's Dogan, partners sign nuclear tender deal
Wednesday, August 20, 2008ISTANBUL, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Turkey's Dogan Enerji signed an accord with Turkish, Belgian and Canadian firms on Wednesday to take part in a tender to build and operate Turkey's first nuclear power plant, parent company Dogan Holding said.
Its partners in the deal are Turkish conglomerate Anadolu Endustri Holding, Brussels-based energy company Unit Investment N.V. and Canada's Bruce Power, Dogan said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
Spain government vows firm action on nuclear leak
Tuesday, August 19, 2008MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's government said on Tuesday it would take firm action against a nuclear plant after the watchdog pressed for charges over its handling of a radioactive leak for which 2,600 people had to be screened.
After a months-long investigation, the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) on Tuesday asked the government to sanction the Asco I plant on four charges of seriously breaching safety regulations arising from a leak in November.
Spain seeks big fines over leak at nuclear plant
Monday, August 18, 2008MADRID, Spain: Spain's nuclear watchdog agency proposed a fine of up to €22.5 million (US$33 million) over a leak at a power plant, accusing operators Monday of waiting three weeks to report it and downplaying the amount of contamination released.
The riverside Asco plant experienced a leak in November, but plant operators did not detect it until March and then waited to notify regulators on April 4, according to the Nuclear Safety Council.
Britain holds £160bn stockpile of nuclear fuel
Monday, August 18, 2008Britain has a stockpile of plutonium and uranium that, if converted to fuel, could be worth nearly £160 billion and power three nuclear reactors for 60 years, scientists say.
The future of the stockpile - largely left over from burning fuel - will be decided by ministers over the next year, The Times has learnt. Its value is estimated as the equivalent of 2.6 billion barrels of oil.
France wields clout on Tennessee, U.S. nukes
Monday, August 18, 2008Electricity ratepayers' dollars in Tennessee as well as federal tax money are increasingly going to a company owned largely by the French government: the nuclear power conglomerate AREVA.
The company holds U.S. Department of Energy contracts for nuclear-related projects at major facilities such as Hanford, Wash., and Yucca Mountain, Nev., and others, including in Erwin, Tenn., and Aiken, S.C.
Radioactive waste now 'harmless'
Monday, August 18, 2008Tonnes of radioactive liquid metal - a legacy of the experimental fast reactor programme at Dounreay in Caithness - have been destroyed.
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said the material was turned into "harmless" salt water.
The water was put through a further process so it could be discharged into the sea.
Greenpeace activists 'risk their lives'
Monday, August 18, 2008GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS protesting against a shipment of nuclear waste on its way to Sellafield are putting themselves at risk of death or injury, the UK nuclear security chief has warned.
Roger Brunt, the director of the government's Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS), has accused the international anti-nuclear group of "recklessness" during attempts to board a boat carrying plutonium-contaminated waste from Sweden.
Kola-I's operating license was extended
Thursday, August 14, 2008KOLA-I'S OPERATING LICENSE WAS EXTENDED until July 6, 2018, by the Russian regulator, Rostekhnadzor. In June 2003, the regulator authorized a limited extension of five years while it undertook a full safety assessment following upgrades and modernization work undertaken since 1990. The assessment was carried out in line with Russia's current nuclear legislation and also took into account the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency and other international experience in assessing the safety of nuclear power plants.
The start of construction at Novovoronezh phase II
Thursday, August 14, 2008THE START OF CONSTRUCTION AT NOVOVORONEZH PHASE II, in Russia, was officially launched with the first pouring of concrete for the basemat of the Unit I reactor building during a June 24 ceremony held at the site. This is the first unit in the new wave of nuclear construction in Russia. The Novovoronezh II plant will eventually house four 1200-MW--class pressurized water reactors. In June 2007, Atomenergoproekt signed a contract to construct the first two units, which are to start up in 2012 and 2013, at a cost of about $5.6 billion.