EDF is hoping to secure a multi-billion euro windfall by extending the lifecycle of its nuclear power stations. This could prove crucial to maintaining its top grade credit rating as it invests billlions in acquisitions and plant renewal.
The energy group this week set out in detail the costs and expected gains from the planned investment in its 58 nuclear power stations that could enable it to run reactors for up to 60 years, against the current lifecycle of 40 years.
Dec 5 (Interfax) - Russia's Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Oversight (Rostekhnadzor) registered two minor events at nuclear power plants in November 2008.
On November 12, Balakovskaya NPP's power unit N2 switched off without activation of the emergency system, the agency said in a press release. Rostekhnadzor has already completed an investigation of this incident. The discharge occurred as a result of a switch- off of the primary circulatory pumps, caused by the loss of a pressure signal in the lubrication system's oil pumps, the agency said.
The increased sourcing of raw uranium that will arise from nuclear new build is an ethical and environmental nightmare currently being ignored by the government.
The World Nuclear Association (WNA), the trade body for companies that make up 90% of the industry, admits that in "emerging uranium producing countries" there is frequently no adequate environmental health and safety legislation, let alone monitoring. It is considerately proposing a Charter of Ethics containing principles of uranium stewardship for its members to follow. But this is a self-policing voluntary arrangement. Similarly, the International Atomic Energy Agency's safety guide to the Management of Radioactive Waste from the Mining and Milling of Ores (pdf) are not legally binding on operators.
PARIS - (Dow Jones)- French nuclear utility Electricite de France SA Thursday announced higher costs for a reactor it's building in France and said its ambition to lead a worldwide wave of building new nuclear plants means total capital expenditure of between EUR40 billion and EUR50 billion by 2020.
The net financing requirements for EDF over the same period should be between EUR12 billion and EUR20 billion, EDF said, given the involvement of partners in projects in France, China, the U.S. and possibly the U.K.
The European Commission's plan to auction 100% of European Union Allowances (EUAs) from 2013 onwards came under fire Thursday from German utility RWE.
RWE's CEO Jurgen Grossmann believes the main beneficiary of the EC's climate change plans would be French utility EDF.
A new study shows that Germany has already reduced greenhouse gas emissions to the level pledged in the Kyoto Protocol. But a greater reliance on coal-fired power plants may soon reverse the trend.
When it comes to global warming and concurrent efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, Germany has always tried to present itself as a leader. New data set to be released on Friday shows that the country has earned its bragging rights.
HIGHLAND Councillors in the Far North will next month make their minds up about a new, low-active nuclear dump planned for Dounreay.
The development earmarked for land to the immediate south of the licensed site is being tabled at a meeting in Halkirk on December 17.
Russian roentgenologists studied what caused death of liquidators of Chernobyl nuclear accident. Scientists analyzed 1466 death cases.
Researchers tried to find out whether diseases and death of Chernobyl liquidators depended on the year they participated in the clean-up. Chernobyl liquidators most often died of blood circulation dysfunctions (48%) and malignant growths (30%). More than half of first group deaths (55%) happened due to coronary heart disease. Lung (27.8 %) and stomach (17.1 %) cancers were predominant among oncological death causes. Average death age was 51 years.
Barely a few days before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, EDF finally clinched its multi-billion pound acquisition of British Energy. At about the same time, the French state-controlled electricity group also tried – and failed – to counter veteran investor Warren Buffett’s bid for control of a US electricity utility, Constellation Energy.
Polish Minister of the Economy, Waldemar Pawlak, has described nuclear energy as one among other options of the development of Polish power industry. Addressing journalists at an informal meeting in Warsaw of the Ministers of Economy with power-consuming corporations on reducing carbon dioxide emission, Pawlak cautioned not to ‘become obsessed with nuclear energy and treat it as only one of many options’.
