Europe

Kozloduy nuclear power plant pays back loan

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant at Kozloduy on the Danube River said on November 14 that it paid back early a $52.5 million loan to Russia's state-owned Roseximbank, which it took to upgrade its two working 1000MW reactors.

The reason for the early repayment of the loan, due in 2021, was avoiding currency risks, the plant said, as quoted by website mediapool.bg. The loan was denominated in US dollars, while its revenue was in leva and euro, the plant operator said.

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Coal regains crown as slump in nuclear output raises fears of power shortages

Sunday, November 16, 2008

ENERGY GAP: Power suppliers are turning back the clock to use coal-fired plants as their main source of electricity in a bid to avert potential shortages this winter.

POWER SUPPLIERS are turning back the clock to use coal-fired plants as their main source of electricity in a bid to avert potential shortages this winter.

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Power company offers nuke-heavy power plan

Sunday, November 16, 2008

BERLIN, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- German power company RWE is offering consumers a zero-carbon energy plan fueled mostly by nuclear power plants.

Der Spiegel said the "Pro-Climate Power" derives 68 percent of its power from nuclear sources and 32 percent from hydroelectric energy.

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Dounreay training team sets up off site

Sunday, November 16, 2008

DOUNREAY'S training and development team has become the first of its potential spin-out businesses to move off the site.

The 12-strong group has relocated to Naver Business Centre in Thurso where there are better prospects for growth.

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As Finland Builds Another Nuclear Plant, a Remote City Flourishes

Sunday, November 16, 2008

RAUMA, Finland — The cafe where Paivi Alanko-Rehelma serves coffee and smoked fish stands practically in the shadow of a sprawling building site on the island of Olkiluoto where Finland is erecting a nuclear power plant, the island’s third, and Finland’s fifth in the last 30 years.

Rauma is about 10 miles from Olkiluoto, a nuclear plant site.

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Nuclear plant deactivated during tests

Sunday, November 16, 2008

A Swiss nuclear power plant has been temporarily deactivated as part of routine inspections at the facility.

BKW energy company authorities carrying out checks at the Mühleberg plant near Bern decided to switch off the plant on Saturday as a precaution in between two operational tests.

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The nuclear reaction - A tour of Britain's nuclear power stations

Sunday, November 16, 2008

It's clean, safe and – if done correctly – cheap. Yet thanks to a series of horrific, expensive blunders Britain remains terrified of nuclear power. From Sizewell B to Windscale, Paul Kendall tours the industry's greatest triumphs and disasters and asks: why so scared?

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Nuke plant reborn as 'green' data center

Sunday, November 16, 2008

1&1 Internet - one of the world's largest web hosts - will build its next European data center inside an abandoned nuclear fuel facility.

Built in the late 1980s, Hanau, Germany's 'New MOX' plant was supposed to process fuel for nuclear reactors, making mixed oxide rods from enriched Uranium and Plutonium. But thanks to local protests, it was never turned on, and in 1995, it was abandoned by owner Siemens AG. Then, more than a decade later, after it escaped from nuclear control legislation, 1&1 came calling.

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Spanish 1,000 MW nuclear plant reconnected to grid

Thursday, November 13, 2008

MADRID, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Spain's 1,000-megawatt Vandellos II nuclear power station was reconnected to the national grid on Thursday afternoon, the plant's operators said in a statement.

The plant near to the northeastern port of Tarragona had been disconnected since early on Wednesday after a control rod had fallen into the reactor core on Saturday.

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EDF Energy poll claims growing support for nuclear power

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

A growing number of people are warming to nuclear power and more people now favour it rather than oppose it, according to a new YouGov survey for EDF Energy, the French nuclear power operator.

The survey, to be published tomorrow, shows that 53 per cent of the 4,449 people who took part in the online poll are now in favour of nuclear power stations to replace old ones. This compares with 46 per cent last year, and 41 per cent the previous year. At the same time 62 per cent agree that nuclear is needed as part of a balanced energy source for the UK compared with 59 per cent last year, and 54 per cent in 2006.

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