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
Lithuania plans referendum on nuclear plant
Monday, July 14, 2008VILNIUS, July 14 (Reuters) - Lithuania's parliament voted on Monday to hold a non-binding referendum on extending the life of its Soviet-era nuclear power plant, despite a promise to the European Union that it will be shut down in 2009.
The parliamentary press service said 88 of 141 lawmakers had voted to hold the referendum on Oct. 12, the same day as a general election. Five voted against and 11 abstained.
Fire at Swedish nuclear plant, reactor safe
Saturday, July 12, 2008STOCKHOLM, July 11 (Reuters) - A fire broke out on Friday on the roof of a turbine facility at Sweden's Ringhals nuclear power plant but was brought under control, rescue services said.
A spokesman for the plant said there was no risk to the reactor.
"It's ... a fire on the roof of one of the turbine facilities at Ringhals 2," said Fredrik Akesson, of the fire brigade in Varberg. "I would say it's under control."
CEZ asks for impact study for new nuclear units
Saturday, July 12, 2008PRAGUE, July 11 (Reuters) - Czech power firm CEZ asked the Environment Ministry for an environmental impact study of the potential construction of two extra units at its Temelin nuclear power plant, the company said on Friday.
The central European country's government has pledged not to approve construction of new nuclear power stations before its term ends in 2010, but has said CEZ could go ahead with the assessment.
URS unit leads team likely to clean up U.K.'s Sellafield nuclear plant
Saturday, July 12, 2008The Washington Division of URS Corp. was picked as the preferred bidder to lead a group that will clean up and shut down the Sellafield nuclear complex in England.
Sellafield, on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria in Northwest England, is a major nuclear power and reprocessing facility.
Swiss to shut down Beznau nuclear plant for 12 hours to replace valve seals
Saturday, July 12, 2008DOETTINGEN, Switzerland - The Swiss atomic energy plant Beznau 1 will be shut down for 12 hours on Saturday so two valve seals in the plant's non-nuclear section can be replaced.
The plant's operating company Nordostschweizerische Kraftwerke AG says the interruption will cause a visible collection of steam to be released from the non-nuclear part of the center.
Environmental Tourism - Green Bike Tour
Friday, July 11, 2008A group of young people from several European countries are taking a cycling tour from Bulgaria to Turkey to show the world that travelling and a good life are possible without much energy consumption.
Fifteen people -- from Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia, Spain, Portugal and a few other countries -- started the 2008 Ecotopia Biketour Jul. 4 in Bulgarian capital Sofia. After travelling for about 600 km in Bulgaria and another 1,000 km in Turkey, over more than one month, they will reach their final destination, the city of Sinop on the Black Sea Coast in northern Turkey. More people are expected to join on the way.
French uranium leak was low level - safety authority
Friday, July 11, 2008PARIS (Reuters) - France's nuclear safety authority (ASN) said on Thursday it had provisionally classified a leak of liquid containing uranium on a site in southeastern France earlier this week at level one of the INES nuclear scale.
The International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), used to measure the potential danger of incidents at nuclear installation, has seven levels, the lowest of which is zero.
EU still reliant on nuclear power
Friday, July 11, 2008BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Europe draws nearly a third of its energy from nuclear power and just 15 percent from renewable sources such as hydroelectric dams and windmills, according to European Union figures released Thursday.
Seeking to cut its reliance on imported oil and natural gas, the European Union is trying to reduce energy consumption and develop more homegrown sources of power -- such as renewables -- that would also limit its output of greenhouse gases.
RWE to shut down Biblis A reactor for maintenance during four months in 2009
Thursday, July 10, 2008FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - RWE AG. plans to shut down its Biblis A reactor for maintenance during the four months to September 2009, Mannheimer Morgen reported, citing the reactor's technical director Juergen Haag.
This would allow RWE to operate the reactor, which is Germany's oldest, until after the German parliamentary elections in autumn that year.
EDF Battles Hedge Funds, Power Traders to Keep Nuclear Secrets
Thursday, July 10, 2008July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Christian Kunze pays French farmers to install camouflaged, shoebox-sized "power stalkers'' in fields near nuclear stations owned by Electricite de France SA, collecting data the world's biggest utility says is a secret.
His company, Powermonitor, plans to sell information about reactor starts and stops in France less than three years after Kunze fended off spying charges from EDF's German affiliate. Banks, hedge funds and traders will pay for such data to gain an edge in continental Europe's $565 billion power market.