MADRID, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Spain's 1,000-megawatt Cofrentes nuclear plant was halted on Friday for maintenance work while power was being stepped down at the 1,000-MW Asco II plant prior to refuelling, operators and technicians said.
That leaves just five of Spain's eight nuclear power plants working normally, as the 1,000 MW Vandellos II plant has been halted almost continually for two months.
MADRID, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Spain's 1,000 megawatt Vandellos II nuclear plant was reconnected to the grid early on Tuesday morning after an absence of nearly two months, technicians said.
"We've been back on line since 4:26 (0226 GMT) and are stepping up power. We need to do tests before reaching full power," said a technician from the plant, which is near to the northeastern port of Tarragona.
MADRID, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Spain's nuclear power stations must invest in safety if their operating permits are to be renewed in the next three years, Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian said on Monday.
Permits for seven of Spain's eight ageing nuclear plants expire between 2009-11, or within the mandate of the recently re-elected Socialist government.
MADRID, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Spain's 1,000 megawatt Asco I nuclear plant began to step down power output on Tuesday with a view to disconnecting from the grid later in the day to fix an oil leak, a statement from the plant's operators said.
That will reduce to six out of eight the number of Spain's normally working nuclear power stations.
MILAN, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Italy, which rejected nuclear power 20 years ago, may see a nuclear plant up and running in 2017, the country's biggest utility, Enel, said on Friday.
Italy banned nuclear power after holding a referendum on the issue in 1987, following the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine. But the nuclear-friendly government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to lift the ban and create conditions for a nuclear energy relaunch by 2012.
PALOMARES, Spain: The rest of the world has mostly forgotten, but the brush with nuclear Armageddon is seared on the minds of locals here and still niggles, 42 years later.
On the morning of Jan. 17, 1966, a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber returning from a routine Cold War alert mission exploded during airborne refueling, sending its cargo of B28 hydrogen bombs plummeting toward earth. One went into the azure waters of the Mediterranean and three others fell around this poor farming village, about 200 kilometers, or 125 miles, east of Granada.
VALENCIA, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Spain's nuclear watchdog told plants on Wednesday that renewing their operating permits would depend on how they implemented tighter safety procedures spurred by a rash of unscheduled stoppages.
Among others, the Nuclear Safety Council reviewed safety plans at the 1,000 megawatt Asco I plant, which faces a hefty fine after the regulator asked for government sanctions over the management's handling of a radioactive leak last November.
adrid - Spain's Nuclear Security Council (CSN) will urge nuclear plant operators to invest more in their safety, the daily El Pais said Wednesday.
The CSN, which is the country's top authority on nuclear energy, has called a meeting with plant operators in September following a string of incidents at Spanish plants.
MADRID, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Spain's 500-megawatt Garona nuclear power station was reconnected to the grid early on Tuesday after an unscheduled halt on Monday, a spokesman said.
"We were reconnected at 2:15 a.m. (0015 GMT), have stepped up power gradually and are now at 99 percent of capacity, or 467 MW," the spokesman said from the plant, which is near the northern city of Burgos.
MADRID, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Spain's nuclear watchdog on Monday called for a meeting of plant operators following the second unscheduled disconnection of a reactor in as many days.
The Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) confirmed earlier reports by industry sources that the 500-megawatt Garona plant was off line, due to an error in work on high-voltage installations which automatically halted the plant.
