YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) -- Armenia approved a plan Thursday to shut down its lone nuclear power plant, following years of pressure from foreign nations concerned about its Soviet-era design and safety.
The government gave no date for closing the Medzamor reactor, located about 20 miles west of the capital, Yerevan. The 27-year-old plant, which supplies nearly half the country's electricity, halted operations after a 1988 earthquake but was restarted during an energy shortage in 1995.
ANKARA - President Abdullah Gul approved Tuesday the law on the establishment, operation of nuclear power plants and sale of energy.
Under the law, Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK) will set the criteria required for companies that are willing to establish and run a nuclear power plant. After the regulation is passed, Turkish Electricity Trade & Contract Corporation (TETAS) will open a tender for nuclear power plants. At the end of the tender process, the awarded companies and TETAS will sign a contract.
By Edith Honan, Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.N. efforts to help people affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster two decades ago should focus on rebuilding self-reliance instead of treating them as victims, a U.N. official said on Monday.
The U.N. General Assembly is expected to pass a resolution on Tuesday saying U.N. activity in the region must move beyond humanitarian assistance in favor of a focus on development.
By Isabel Gorst in Almaty
Kazakhstan has agreed to share its uranium resources with China in exchange for equity in Chinese nuclear power facilities in a strategic deal that brings together the world's fastest growing uranium and nuclear electricity producers.
Moukhtar Dzhakishev, the president of Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan's state-owned nuclear power company, said: "We will swap shares in uranium production for shares in Chinese atomic facilities... This is the first time China has allowed any foreign company to become a shareholder in its atomic power industry enterprises."
ROME (Thomson Financial) - General Electric Co expressed an interest in participating in Turkey's nascent nuclear power programme following the Turkish parliament's recent adoption of a law that authorises the construction of the first nuclear power stations.
Ricardo Cordoba, president of GE Energy in western Europe and north Africa, told Agence France-Presse that Turkey needs new power stations, and that his company would be able to provide the country with all its requirements for its new nuclear power programme. Cordoba was speaking on the sidelines of the 20th World Energy Congress in Rome. GE Energy manufactures nuclear reactors as well as turbines.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - German engineering conglomerate Siemens signed an agreement on Tuesday with Russia to help the country boost nuclear power generation.
Russia's atomic energy agency, known as Rosatom, said its chief, Sergei Kiriyenko, had signed the memorandum in Moscow with Rudi Lamprecht, a member of Siemens' managing board.
ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey's parliament approved a bill Friday allowing for the construction of nuclear power plants in the country, despite opposition from environmental groups.
The measure — setting out the legal framework for the plants and the sale of the energy they produce — was first passed in parliament earlier this year, but was blocked by then President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
24.10.2007, 20.55
YEREVAN, October 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Armenia has made a decision to build a new unit at the operating nuclear power plant to replace the one to be decommissioned, Energy Minister Armen Movsesyan said.
“An alternative to the nuclear power plant in Armenia could be only a new nuclear unit that will meet current safety and security requirements,” the minister said in an interview with the Voice of Armenia newspaper on Wednesday.
Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:27pm EDT
By Natalya Shurmina
YEKATERINBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Safety breaches have caused a radiation leak at a major nuclear reprocessing plant in the Ural mountains, Russia announced on Monday, but officials said there was no danger to humans.
Local Emergencies Ministry officials said a faulty tap allowed radiation to leak from a tank holding liquid radioactive waste onto 1.5 km (just under a mile) of a road at the Mayak plant. The incident happened four days ago.
Nov 06, 2007
In cooperation with BNS
RIGA -- The Latvian government has endorsed an agreement to send used nuclear fuel from the decommissioned Salaspils nuclear research facility to Russia.
The Environment Ministry proposal was given the green light at a government meeting on Nov. 6, meaning that a full agreement with russia can go ahead next week.
