Nuclear power in Europe

WASHINGTON (AP) The United States tentatively has agreed to allow limited imports of uranium from Russia, suspending an antidumping investigation that has been in place for decades, according to a filing by the Commerce Department.

The imports, beginning in 2011, would be limited by yearly quotas.

The capture of nuclear materials in Slovakia last week raises security questions about borderless travel.

By Michael J. Jordan | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, Bratislava, Slovakia

The {{post id="uranium-could-have-made-dirty-bomb" text="capture of over a pound of powderized uranium" target="_self"}} in Slovakia last week has served as a sharp reminder to Europe, though nuclear experts have cast doubt on the assertion by local law-enforcement officials that terrorists could have used it for a "dirty bomb."

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian arrested in an attempted sale of uranium were peddling material believed to be from the former Soviet Union, and it was enriched enough to be used in a radiological "dirty bomb," police said Thursday.

The three, who were arrested Wednesday in eastern Slovakia and Hungary, were trying to sell about a pound of uranium in powder form, said First Police Vice President Michal Kopcik.

(ENDS Europe DAILY 05/12/07) Three German municipal utilities have lost an appeal at the European court of justice against tax breaks for nuclear power operators in Germany. The three firms wanted the court to overturn a state aid ruling by the European commission from 2001.
The commission said a tax exemption for funds put aside for waste disposal and reactor decommissioning did not amount to a state subsidy. But the court ruled the firms' appeal inadmissible last Thursday because they had not shown they were directly affected by the case. It did not evaluate the commission decision itself.