By Paul Dwyer
Producer, Windscale: Britain's biggest nuclear disaster
Fifty years ago, on the night of 10 October 1957, Britain was on the brink of an unprecedented nuclear tragedy. A fire ripped through the radioactive materials in the core of Windscale, Britain's first nuclear reactor.
Green MEPs have urged the European commission to suspend EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes's responsibilities for nuclear issues following her remarks in support of the sector on Monday. In an open letter to commission president Jose Manuel Barroso the MEPs question the impartiality of her decisions and call for a re-evaluation of the recent EU approval of French aid to a new Finnish reactor. A spokesman for Ms Kroes told ENDS the call was "ludicrous", arguing that all decisions
are taken on competition grounds.
Lithuania has already spent 51.2 million euros on projects aimed at decommissioning the first unit of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) closed late in 2004. Direct European Union (EU) support for the projects made up some 29 million euros in two years.
The overall amount excludes the support extended by the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF), administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which funds the decommissioning projects independently via direct payments to contractors or suppliers.
Covenant Between the Government and the Borssele Operator Concerning the Life Extension (2006)
On 16 June 2006, a covenant was concluded between the Dutch Government and the operators of the Borssele nuclear power plant concerning the plant’s life extension. N.V. Elektriciteits Produktiemaatschappij Zuid-Nederland EPZ (hereinafter EPZ) was granted a licence for an indefinite period pursuant to the 1963 Nuclear Energy Act to operate the Borssele nuclear power plant. Essent Energie B.V. and Delta Energie B.V. each hold a 50% stake in the shares of EPZ.
2 oktober 2007 - Fact-finding studie in opdracht van de SER
De Sociaal Economische Raad (SER) heeft het Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland (ECN) een fact-finding studie laten uitvoeren waarin feiten en gegevens over kernenergie zijn verzameld. Op basis van deze studie bereidt de SER een advies voor over de rol van kernenergie in de toekomstige energievoorziening. Uitgangspunt van dit SER-advies is het streven naar een duurzame energievoorziening, die tegelijkertijd betrouwbaar, schoon, veilig, betaalbaar en toegankelijk is.
Lithuania's state-controlled Lietuvos Elektrine (Lithuanian Power Plant, or LPP) has invited international bids to design and build a new combined cycle gas turbine plant (CCGT) with a capacity of 350 to 450 megawatts (MW), the Economy Ministry said on Wednesday.
The project, worth an estimated 720 million litas (EUR 209 mln), is part of ongoing upgrades at the LPP, which will become the main generator of electricity in Lithuania after the shutdown of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) in 2009. The CCGT project will be financed from the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund, which is administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and other resources, the ministry said. The new plant will produce electricity at around half the cost of power generated by the existing units of the LPP.
Big Bang Changes Cumbrian Skyline
Updated: 12:37, Saturday September 29, 2007
Four cooling towers at Sellafield's Calder Hall site in Cumbria have been razed to the ground after helping generate electricity for nearly 50 years.
The world's first commercial nuclear power station is being demolished.
Date of release: 24/09/2007
The European Investment Bank has signed a EUR 200 million loan with Urenco Ltd for the expansion of two uranium enrichment plants based in the UK and the Netherlands. This project forms part of the company’s medium-term investment programme, meeting global uranium enrichment demand by the use of Urenco’s world-leading energy-efficient technology.
Government warned that energy plans could be thwarted by shortages of skills and components
David Gow in Brussels, Monday October 1, 2007
The government's plans to build up to 10 nuclear power plants in Britain over the next decade could be thwarted by a shortage of skilled project managers, industry executives have warned.
They have told ministers that the coming nuclear renaissance in Europe and in emerging economies such as Russia, China and India - driven by the need to combat global warming and reduce energy imports - could also constrain the delivery of key reactor components unless decisions are made swiftly and the planning process is speeded up.
Vienna - High-ranking European government officials, representing anti-nuclear states Austria, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Italy, Luxembourg, and Latvia, called Monday for alternatives to a renaissance of nuclear energy.
The group met in Vienna on Sunday and Monday to forge a joint declaration against nuclear energy. At a press conference, the participating politicians called for more investment into energy efficiency measures and renewable energies.
