Nuclear power in Europe

The owner of Scottish Power has pulled out of a multibillion-pound plan to build atomic reactors, dealing a blow to Britain’s faltering nuclear renaissance.

The decision by Iberdrola, the Spanish energy giant, means there is now a question mark over two of the three groups that planned plants. Ministers hoped the trio would build a dozen reactors generating roughly a fifth of Britain’s power over the next 20 years.

(Reuters) - A second nuclear reactor in Belgium has indications of cracks in its core tank, the nuclear regulator said on Thursday, putting further strain on the country's energy supply as it heads into winter.

Preliminary results of tests being carried out at Tihange 2, a reactor operated by GDF Suez unit Electrabel, showed that there were indications of cracks on the core tank, Belgium's nuclear regulator FANC said in a statement.

A likely political coalition between the Netherland's pro-nuclear VVD party and the antinuclear PvdA party after Wednesday's inconclusive election result will almost certainly put plans for a new nuclear power station at Borssele on hold.

The center-right VVD party led the polls Wednesday with 26.5%. The center-left Labour PvdA party came a close second with 24.8%.

AP - A steam blast at France’s oldest nuclear plant Wednesday left two workers with slight hand burns and revived calls to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on nuclear power.

Nuclear safety authorities said there was no threat of radioactive leaks and that the incident at the Fessenheim plant in eastern France appeared minor. It touched a nerve, however, because anti-nuclear activists have long urged the closure of the plant. Those calls have mounted since the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant last year.