FT, January 10 2008 19:59: The new year has hardly begun and already the first salvoes over the future of the world’s biggest nuclear group, Areva, have been fired.
Last week it emerged that Areva had held preliminary talks with French construction group Vinci about a partnership to build nuclear power stations in the UK and elsewhere.
The government will announce its decision on whether to build a new generation of nuclear power stations on Thursday, Downing Street said today.
The business secretary, John Hutton, will make the announcement in a statement to MPs on energy security.
A spokesman for the prime minister said: "John Hutton will make a statement to MPs and part of that will be the decision on whether or not to go ahead with the next generation of nuclear power stations."
By James Kanter
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
PARIS: The British government is expected to introduce plans this week for a series of new nuclear reactors - a move that energy experts say could light a beacon for the beleaguered nuclear industry in other parts of Europe, where opposition to the technology remains strong.
Thu Jan 3, 2008 7:34pm EST
By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) - The British government's public consultation last year on the need for new nuclear power plants to tackle climate change and bridge the looming energy gap was flawed and misleading, a group of academics said on Friday.
By Andrew Porter
The next generation of nuclear power stations is set to be given the go-ahead by the Government next week despite fierce opposition from environmentalists and MPs.
Following months of delays over a legal challenge, John Hutton, the Business Secretary, is expected to tell MPs that a new era of nuclear power can begin.
A new generation of nuclear power plants could burn 100 tonnes of surplus weapons-grade plutonium as a good way of keeping it away from terrorists, according to scientists working for the European Union.
British Energy has said that it would extend the lives of Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B nuclear power stations by five years to 2016.
The two sites, which are currently running at around 60% capacity due to boiler issues, began generating power in 1976.
Further studies will be conducted by 2013 regarding the potential for additional life extensions beyond 2016, the company added.
By 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.
London (Platts)--6 Dec 2007
British Energy is investigating the cause of a hydrogen leak at Torness-1 in Scotland, BE said December 6.
BE spokeswoman Sue Fletcher said the advanced gas-cooled reactor was manually tripped December 1 following indications of the leak, which is on the conventional plant main turbo-generator. She could not say how long the reactor would be offline, she said, as BE is still devising a repair and restart plan. "We are also determining whether we will take the opportunity to carry out additional maintenance work while the unit is off," Fletcher said.
London Evening Standard, 4 December 2007
The organs of miscarried and stillborn babies may have been harvested for testing by nuclear scientists, it emerged yesterday.
Victims of road accidents could also have been part of the grisly programme set up to establish whether workers at Sellafield had suffered radiation poisoning.
