Sofia. German company RWE will from now on decide whether to grant the investment promised.
The signing of the shareholding contract for Belene nuclear power plant through which German company RWE will gain 49% of the future plant's stakes, was postponed. Instead of end-October 2008 when the last deadline expired, the paper will most likely be endorsed in December 2008, the project's main investor National Electricity Company (NEC) said, The Banker Weekly reported.
Europe
Belene equipment ordered with Bulgaria own funds
Sunday, November 9, 2008No Safety Violations Found at Mayak Atomic Plant
Sunday, November 9, 2008MOSCOW. Nov 6 (Interfax) - The Federal Technological, Environmental and Atomic Supervisory Service has completed an inspection of the Mayak plant based in Russia's Chelyabinsk region. No violations of nuclear, radiation and technological safety have been exposed, the service said.
The inspectors verified control over nuclear materials, radioactive substances and waste and physical protection of the plant.
Pensioner in nuclear protest
Sunday, November 9, 2008A GRANDMA for peace was arrested yet again after protesting against weapons of mass destruction.
Veteran campaigner Joan Meredith, 79, from Malpas, was taking part in the CND/Trident Ploughshares Big Blockade at the Aldermaston nuclear plant in Berkshire when she was arrested on Monday last week.
Schools given a store of anti-radiation pills
Sunday, November 9, 2008Thousands of anti-radiation pills have been handed out to schools in Portsmouth and Gosport for the visit of a French nuclear sub.
Potassium iodate tablets are being held at schools within a 2km area of Portsmouth Naval Base in the event of a nuclear reactor meltdown.
The 113,000 pills – given out every time a nuclear sub visits the city –are designed to stop radiation from being absorbed by the thyroid gland.
Limits to growth
Friday, November 7, 2008A new generation of nuclear plants requires a new generation of nuclear physicists
MUCH more than worries about safety, the biggest obstacle to the revival of nuclear power in Britain is cost. Atom-splitting is expensive, with brochure prices for reactors starting around £3 billion, and dizzying lurches in oil prices make it hard to evaluate the industry’s competitiveness. “Nuclear power works for oil prices above $60 a barrel,” said a government adviser confidently in early October, when it was still near $100. As The Economist went to press, the price of oil was hovering around $64, barely above that margin of safety.
Students protest nuclear transport
Friday, November 7, 2008BERLIN: Some 500 students demonstrated Friday against the disposal of reprocessed nuclear waste at a temporary storage center in northwest Germany, police said.
A train carrying the waste was due to leave France Friday, with trucks taking it the final miles (kilometers) to the storage facility near the town of Gorleben early Monday.
Bulgaria urges RWE to approve Belene nuclear
Friday, November 7, 2008SOFIA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Bulgaria urged German power utility RWE on Thursday to reject pressure from green activists and approve a deal to become a strategic investor in a planned 4.0 billion euro ($5.16 billion) nuclear power plant.
Deputy Energy Minister Yavor Kuyumdzhiev said Bulgaria will wait for RWE's supervisory board approval of the deal until the spring of 2009, when construction of the 2,000 megawatt Belene plant should start.
Finland sets energy targets, may need more nuclear
Friday, November 7, 2008HELSINKI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Finland set targets on Thursday to rein in power consumption and raise the share of renewable energy to meet European Union goals for 2020, and flagged the possible need for more nuclear power.
"The starting point for us is that Finland will on average produce enough electricity for domestic use," Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen said in a statement.
Opposition party launches campaign against nuclear plant in Belarus
Friday, November 7, 2008Minsk, Nov 06, 2008 (BBC Monitoring via COMTEX) -- Seven residents of Hrodna Region's Astravets District have announced their intention to campaign against the government's plans to build a nuclear power plant in the area in western Belarus.
The group is led by Mikalay Ulasevich, a sole entrepreneur and member of the [opposition] United Civic Party.
U.N. watchdog urges Spain action on nuclear waste
Friday, November 7, 2008SEVILLE, Spain (Reuters) - The United Nations' nuclear watchdog on Wednesday praised Spain's regulator but recommended stepping up efforts to find a permanent site for dumping spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste.
Urich Schmocker, head of an International Atomic Energy Agency mission to Spain, said building a central storage facility was just an interim solution.
