Europe

Secret UK uranium components plant closed over safety fears

Friday, January 25, 2013

A top-secret plant at Aldermaston that makes enriched uranium components for Britain's nuclear warheads and fuel for the Royal Navy's submarines has been shut down because corrosion has been discovered in its "structural steelwork", the Guardian can reveal.

The closure has been endorsed by safety regulators who feared the building did not conform to the appropriate standards. The nuclear safety watchdog demands that such critical buildings are capable of withstanding "extreme weather and seismic events", and the plant at Aldermaston failed this test.

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Poland examines three potential sites for first nuclear power plant

Thursday, January 24, 2013

In Poland work is under way at locating the best site for what will be the country’s first nuclear power plant.

Industrial Info reports that state owned Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA has awarded the site characterisation, licensing and permitting services contract for the plant to the WorleyParsons consortium. The contract is valued at $81.5m and will run for more than two years.

Nuclear power plant
The Polish government intends to eventually generate 3,000 MW of electricity through nuclear power, as it attempts to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas imports.

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Toshiba plots bid for Britain’s nuclear fuel maker

Monday, January 21, 2013

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Toshiba Corp. is weighing plans to bid for Urenco, the nuclear fuel producer backed by the U.K., the Netherlands and two German energy giants, the Sunday Times reports without citing sources.

The newspaper says the Japanese industrial giant, which owns the nuclear reactor builder Westinghouse Electric, wants to bid for the business if and when it comes on the market.

Urenco, which enriches uranium for nuclear fuel, is owned by the U.K. and Dutch governments and German firms RWE A.G. and E.ON S.E., who own a third each.

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Regulator wants more info before clearing Belgian reactors

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Belgian nuclear regulator said Tuesday it wanted more information before it could make a final decision on whether to restart two reactors, shut down last year after cracks were found in them.

The regulator, AFCN, said that it had received detailed reports on the Doel 3 and the Tihange 2 reactors from various experts and at this stage saw "no reason that they be shut down definitively."

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Areva and EDF defend project costs

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Areva and EDF, the French nuclear groups, have both defended the cost of new nuclear projects despite the €2bn of extra cost overruns on their flagship next-generation reactor at Flamanville in Normandy.

The news that the reactor, the first built in France for 15 years, is expected to cost €8.5bn rather than the €3.3bn first forecast comes as questions are raised about whether nuclear power remains affordable.

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Flaws make restart of two Belgian nuclear plants ‘hazardous’: Study

Friday, January 11, 2013

Restarting two Belgian nuclear power plants which have been shut since the discovery of micro-cracks in their reactor vessels would be a hazardous move with potentially “catastrophic consequences”, according to a new study commissioned by the Green Party group in the European Parliament.

“A possible failure of the reactor due to sudden crack growth in case of local thermal stresses cannot be excluded and would have catastrophic consequences, especially in the vicinity of densely populated and high-economic activity areas,” it says.

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Experts okay restart of worrisome Belgian nuclear plants

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Scientific experts have greenlighted the restart of two Belgian nuclear power plants despite signs of micro-cracks in reactor vessels, the daily Le Soir said Saturday. Scientific experts have greenlighted the restart of two Belgian nuclear power plants despite signs of micro-cracks in reactor vessels, the daily Le Soir said Saturday.

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Vattenfall seeks recompense for German nuclear phaseout

Friday, December 21, 2012

Swedish energy group Vattenfall is reportedly reclaiming losses resulting from the German government's decision last year to shut down older nuclear reactors. The claim is reportedly backed by the Swedish government.

The Swedish business daily Dagens Industri reported Friday that Vattenfall was seeking damages to the tune of about 3.5 billion euros ($4.6 billion).

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Swedish nuclear reactor shut after sea water infiltration

Friday, December 21, 2012

Stockholm, Dec 21: A reactor in Sweden’s biggest nuclear plant was stopped after an infiltration of sea water, the operator Vattenfall and the national nuclear industry watchdog said.

“There is no safety problem” at Reactor 4 at the Ringhals plant near Gothenburg in the country’s southwest, nuclear authority inspector Jan Gsjo told the national TT news agency.

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Nuclear plant of Garoña shuts down

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The nuclear plan decided to shut down ahead of new taxes included in a government energy reform that would render the plant unviable.

Spain's oldest nuclear plant Garoña is shutting down on Sunday ahead of new taxes included in a government energy reform that would render the plant unviable.

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