BRATISLAVA, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Slovakia is worried power generator Slovenske Elektrarne (SE) may be late finishing a second nuclear power plant, a delay which could damage the economy, Prime Minister Robert Fico said in remarks carried by a newspaper on Tuesday.
Fico asked SE, 66-percent owned by Italy's utility Enel, to present a detailed timetable of work on the two 440 MW blocks at the Mochovce nuclear plant, which should be completed in 2012-2013 at a cost of 1.6 billion euros.
Serious shortcomings exist on the construction site of the new Olkiluoto nuclear reactor.
According to YLE current affairs programme, welding work has been carried out on the site without proper supervision. Neither has there been a qualified manager on site to direct the welding work for several months.
A qualified manager with responsibility for welding work must be on site at nuclear reactor construction site in order to meet with international standards.
The wild mushrooms tested in various parts of Finland still exhibit elevated levels of the radioactive caesium-137 that originates from the Chernobyl accident in 1986, while the caesium content of berries and animals has already become almost zero.
In addition to mushrooms, some hares and the predatory fish in small lakes still contain radioactive caesium.
The two Swiss engineers, Urs and Marco Tinner, suspected of involvement in an international nuclear smuggling network have been refused bail.
The Swiss Federal Court upheld a ruling by the Criminal Court earlier this year which ordered the Tinners to remain in custody pending the outcome of an investigation.
Negotiations with the French-German company Areva regarding possible construction of a nuclear power plant by the company in Belarus have been postponed, the Belapan news agency reported on 8 August, quoting Mikalay Hrusha, deputy director-general of the Belarusian Science Academy's Sosny nuclear and power engineering centre.
Hrusha said that the visit by the Energy Ministry delegation was postponed because Areva's CEO Ann Lauvergeon would be on vacation at the time.
Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- WildHorse Energy Ltd., the Australian uranium explorer backed by Macquarie Group Ltd., agreed to study the potential for restarting uranium mining in southern Hungary as demand for the metal from power producers increases.
Under an accord with state-owned Mecsekerc Zrt the partners will evaluate the Mecsek Hills project area by the end of September, Perth-based WildHorse said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. They will then do more detailed feasibility work before deciding whether to develop a mine.
Kazakhstan may have relinquished its arsenal of nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it is seeking to expand its role in a variety of atomic energy-related fields. The country hopes to outstrip rivals Canada and Australia next year to become the world’s biggest uranium producer.
Greenpeace has raised objections to the underground disposal of highly radioactive wastes from the new Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power unit.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Greenpeace says that the nuclear power industry has plans to create a new underground disposal facility at the Olkiluoto site for the ""super waste" spent fuel that will be created by the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power unit.
PARIS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Radioactive gas emissions from a nuclear plant in southeast France were higher than normal in June and July but there was no threat to public safety, nuclear authorities said on Wednesday.
The gas emissions occurred at a waste reprocessing installation at the Tricastin nuclear site in southeastern France, where a separate uranium leak was reported last month.
Bucharest. The comments on the low control over the transportation of Bulgarian nuclear fuel along the Danube River is among the headlines in the Romanian press today.
The Gandul daily notes that every year the Bulgarian ship Vasil Drumev and the boat Nautilus transport 60 tons of nuclear fuel from Kozloduy to the Ukrainian port of Ismail. The nuclear fuel used in Kozloduy is transported as waste to the Ukrainian port, from where the ship turns back loaded with fresh fuel.
According to the article the ‘tourist’ boats, used by the Romanian police to escort the cargo, often malfunction.
