Europe

British Energy's Hunterston B7 shutdown unplanned

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

LONDON (Reuters) - British Energy's Hunterston B7 nuclear reactor was shutdown manually late on Tuesday but it is still unclear why the reactor in Scotland needed to be stopped, a spokesman for the company said.

"We are still looking into that," he said on Wednesday.

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Turkey pushes energy projects despite crisis

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

BANDIRMA, Turkey, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Energy import-dependent Turkey is pressing ahead with large energy investments despite global financial woes and ongoing private sector projects will raise capacity to 62,600 megawatts from 40,000 MW.

Turkey, a major energy importer, is under pressure to increase power capacity and liberalise the sector in the face of sharply rising demand, fuelled by economic growth and a rapidly growing population.
However, the shrinking global liquidity and lessening risk appetite generated by the financial crisis has raised concerns about companies' ability to raise the necessary funding and uncertainty surrounds some projects.

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Macedonia interested in Bulgarian NPP Belene

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Skopje. The possibility for a future participation of Macedonia in the construction of ther nuclear power plant Belene in Bulgaria will be a topic of discussion during the visit of the Macedonian delegation in Bulgaria, the Macedonian agency Makfax reports.

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Ukraine to sign nuclear fuel deals with Russia by yearend

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

KOLONTAYEVO (Moscow Region), October 21 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine is set to sign three nuclear fuel deals with Russia by the end of this year, the president of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom said on Tuesday.

Yuriy Nedashkovskiy said two of the deals involved fuel supplies for Ukrainian nuclear power plants, while the other covers the production and enrichment of nuclear fuel from Ukrainian raw materials.

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Swedish nuclear reactor shut down for safety check

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A Swedish nuclear reactor was shut down Tuesday for safety checks after an annual review of a similar reactor found cracks in several control rods.

Workers found cracks in at least five of 90 rods of a reactor at the Oskarshamn nuclear plant during annual maintenance work earlier this month. That reactor was closed for maintenance and has yet to reopen.

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Two German nuclear plants to run beyond 09 election

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

FRANKFURT, Oct 20 (Reuters) - German nuclear power plant operators EnBW and RWE confirmed they will keep two reactors running beyond 2009, when a general election might change nuclear policy.

The two companies on Monday confirmed a weekend media report which said the Neckarwestheim 1 and Biblis A installations will run at least well into 2010, although under the nuclear exit law they should have shut next year.

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Spain's 1,000 MW Vandellos II nuclear plant on line

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

MADRID, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Spain's 1,000 megawatt Vandellos II nuclear plant was reconnected to the grid early on Tuesday morning after an absence of nearly two months, technicians said.

"We've been back on line since 4:26 (0226 GMT) and are stepping up power. We need to do tests before reaching full power," said a technician from the plant, which is near to the northeastern port of Tarragona.

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Public nuclear research 'flawed'

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Public consultations carried out by the government on new nuclear energy plants were flawed, the UK's market research trade body ruled yesterday.

The Market Research Standards Board said the consultation, carried out by Opinion Leader Research, was in breach of its code of conduct. In the sessions in which the public were asked for their opinions on nuclear power, "information was inaccurately or misleadingly presented, or was imbalanced, which gave rise to a material risk of respondents being led towards a particular answer".

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Residents shock at 'radioactive homes' fear

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

People living near a former RAF base yesterday spoke of their shock at being told their homes could be radioactive.

Radium and asbestos have been found at the site, where military waste was burned and buried. The council is now testing 90 nearby homes.

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Bulgaria pours 300M leva in Belene nuclear plant

Friday, October 17, 2008

Bulgaria's Cabinet plans to inject 300 million leva into the National Electric Company (NEK) to cover the costs of the transitional stage of building the nuclear power plant at Belene on the Danube River, the Government press service said in a statement.

The cash would be given as an equity hike in NEK, which is now part of the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) that the Cabinet created in September 2009 by integrating Maritza Iztok mines, Maritza Iztok 2 thermal power plant and NEK into the holding structure of gas provider Bulgargaz.

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