Paris, 17 September: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and French President Nicolas Sarkozy today signed an agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy and agreements on strategic partnership which is expected to enhance all-round relations between the two countries.
"France and Slovakia have clearly opted for nuclear energy. It covers 50 per cent of electric energy consumption in Slovakia," the French presidential office said on the meeting.
PARIS, Sept 8 (Reuters) - A security incident has occurred at a French nuclear site already under scrutiny because of a series of safety scares over the summer, France's ASN nuclear safety authority said on Monday.
ASN said two fuel units became snagged in a reactor at Tricastin in southern France on Monday morning when site workers were attempting to remove them during maintenance work.
PARIS, Sept 4 (Reuters) - EDF said on Thursday it had stopped its 900-megawatts nuclear reactor 2 at its Tricastin plant in southeast France for refuelling on Aug. 30.
The reactor 4 at the 3,600-MW plant was halted on July 12 for maintenance.
PARIS: French nuclear engineering giant Areva said Wednesday it will invest €20 million (US$29.2 million) to improve health and environmental monitoring at a reactor complex that has been the site of a series of recent safety incidents.
The investment will also be used to find a new storage place for nuclear waste held at a site near the Tricastin complex that Areva acquired from France's Atomic Energy Commission in 2006, Areva said.
Electricity 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.
Britain 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.
PARIS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Radioactive gas emissions from a nuclear plant in southeast France were higher than normal in June and July but there was no threat to public safety, nuclear authorities said on Wednesday.
The gas emissions occurred at a waste reprocessing installation at the Tricastin nuclear site in southeastern France, where a separate uranium leak was reported last month.
PARIS (Reuters) - Greenpeace France filed two complaints against nuclear power company Areva over an uranium leak this month that triggered public outrage, as well as older leaks that were later found on the same site.
On July 7, Areva accidentally poured around 18 cubic meters of liquid containing uranium, which was not enriched, onto the ground and into the river at the Tricastin nuclear site, prompting local authorities to launch an official enquiry.
Russia and the European Union will embark on a new round of negotiations to lift hidden quotas on Russia's nuclear exports in September 2008 during the Russia-EU summit, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, said today. He reiterated that the two sides were currently negotiating a new cooperation agreement. In addition, the EU presidency is currently held by France, Europe's largest nuclear power producer and consumer. It's time to step up talks on the matter, Kiriyenko noted.
PARIS, July 29 (Reuters) - More than 120 workers evacuated a nuclear power plant in southern France on Tuesday after an alarm was set off, the nuclear safety authority said.
Plant owner EDF said the alarm was triggered accidentally but the safety authority ASN said it would await an independent examination before making any conclusions.
