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
Finnish reactor delays slow nuclear renaissance
Tuesday, December 11, 2007By Sami Torma
HELSINKI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Finland is pressing ahead with construction of its fifth nuclear reactor but the plant has faced long delays and seems unlikely to herald a quick revival of Europe's atomic industry.
Construction of the reactor -- one of only two major atomic projects underway in largely nuclear-sceptical Western Europe -- was originally scheduled to start in 2009 but construction delays and rising costs have now pushed that back to 2011.
Gadaffi’s visit to France sparks protests
Tuesday, December 11, 2007By Ben Hall in Paris
Muammer Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, on Monday began a five-day visit to Paris to buy arms, nuclear power and civil airliners, triggering a storm of criticism from campaigners and an outburst from a government minister who said France should not accept his “kiss of death”.
Colonel Gadaffi was last night expected to sign a clutch of contracts valued at about €10bn ($14.7bn, £7bn) with French companies at the Elysée palace following talks with Nicolas Sarkozy. The Libyan leader is looking to buy 26 Airbus aircraft, a nuclear power station, French Rafale fighters and missiles, spare parts for his fleet of Mirage fighters and military helicopters.
A chill wind blows across the Baltics from Warsaw
Monday, December 10, 2007The thaw between Poland and Brussels has sent a chill down spines in Lithuania.
Donald Tusk, the new Polish premier, arrived at the European Commission and parliament on Tuesday to show that his country was back in the centre of Europe. The era of the Kaczynskis, “the terrible twins”, picking fights with Brussels, was over.
The fear in Vilnius is that he may stop picking fights with Russia, too, leaving the Baltic republics, which only recently threw off the Soviet yoke, alone in the ring with the bear. Talks on resolving the Russian blockade of Polish meat, which in turn have held up a new EU-Russia partnership agreement to Brussels' ill-concealed annoyance, start next week.
Nuclear power plan faces fresh legal threat
Monday, December 10, 2007By Jean Eaglesham, Chief Political Correspondent
Financial Times: December 9 2007
Gordon Brown faces a dilemma on energy policy after a legal warning from Greenpeace, the environmental group, that a decision to approve a new generation of nuclear power stations would "not be lawful".
The prime minister is expected to give the green light to replacing Britain's ageing fleet of nuclear power stations next month.
New construction sites have been identified and a number of energy companies have signalled their enthusiasm for the multi-billion-pound project.
But the threat of legal action from Greenpeace, which has sent a formal warning letter, gives Mr Brown a political headache.
Environmental oranisations condemn EC opinion on Belene NPP
Monday, December 10, 200718:05 Mon 10 Dec 2007 - Rene Beekman
Environmental organisations Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth Europe, Urgewald, Bankwatch, WISE and the Bulgarian NGO coalition BeleNE! condemned on December 10 the European Commission´s (EC) favourable opinion on the Belene nuclear power project (NPP) in Bulgaria, a media statement by the organisations said.
Switzerland to return decommissioning funds to nuclear plant operators
Monday, December 10, 2007Switzerland has issued a new decree to address excess funds for nuclear decommissioning and waste disposal, the Swiss Energy Office said on Monday.
The decree will take into account the longer-expected lifetime of nuclear power plants from 40 to 50 years, which has left excess sums totalling around CHF 600-700 million (EUR 363-423 million) in the funds. These sums must now be returned to nuclear power plant operators. The total cost of decommissioning and waste disposal for Switzerland's five nuclear power plants was estimated at CHF 13.7 billion in 2001, the majority of which (CHF 11.8 billion) was allocated for the disposal of waste. By the end of 2006, around CHF 4.4 billion had accumulated in the funds.
Study Finds More Childhood Cancer Near Nuclear Power Plants
Sunday, December 9, 2007DW-WORLD - Children living near nuclear power stations are more likely to suffer leukemia than those living farther away, a report funded by the German government has found, according to German media.
"Our study confirmed that in Germany a connection has been observed between the distance of a domicile to the nearest nuclear power plant ... and the risk of developing cancer, such as leukemia, before the fifth birthday," the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted the report as saying.
EDF nuclear power plant construction faces legal challenge
Friday, December 7, 2007December 04, 2007: 05:55 AM EST
PARIS, Dec. 4, 2007 (Thomson Financial) -- French anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire said it has mounted a legal challenge to the construction of EDF's Flamanville nuclear reactor and hopes to get work stopped.
EDF said the construction of the 1,650 megawatts EPR European pressurised water reactor, to be supplied by Areva, has started following ground preparation at the site.
Uranium Could Have Made Dirty Bomb
Friday, December 7, 2007BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian arrested in an attempted sale of uranium were peddling material believed to be from the former Soviet Union, and it was enriched enough to be used in a radiological "dirty bomb," police said Thursday.
The three, who were arrested Wednesday in eastern Slovakia and Hungary, were trying to sell about a pound of uranium in powder form, said First Police Vice President Michal Kopcik.
Brussels Makes a Case for Nuclear Power
Friday, December 7, 2007Upon launch of an EU forum on the issue, the European Commission says nuclear energy has a role in the bloc's low-carbon future
The case for greater use of nuclear energy in the EU received a high-profile boost on Monday, as the bloc formally launched its Nuclear Energy Forum, serving as the first-ever channel for EU-wide dialogue on the often taboo issue.