Europe

A glowing review

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Nuclear decommissioning: Britain is paying dearly for neglecting its nuclear waste

SWILLING around murky ponds in the oldest part of Sellafield, a nuclear research and reprocessing centre in Cumbria, is a soupy, radioactive sludge. For years boffins working on Britain’s first military and civil nuclear programmes abandoned spent fuel and other nastiness into the pools and tanks, which now grow decrepit. Though perhaps not the “slow-motion Chernobyl” which some environmental campaigners make out, the site is subject to one of the most complex nuclear clean-ups in the world.

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Finland's Kesko drops out of Fennovoima nuclear project

Thursday, March 27, 2014

(Reuters) - Finnish retailer Kesko on Thursday said it would drop out of the Fennovoima consortium and its planned 4-6 billion euro nuclear reactor, citing increased risks in the project.

Following Kesko's exit, Fennovoima's Finnish ownership could drop below the required 50 percent of shares, complicating the project.

Russia's state-owned Rosatom, which is due to supply the reactor, has taken a 34-percent stake in the project, and Fennovoima's Finnish owners, including 43 companies, have been looking for new Finnish investors.

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Belgium Shuts Down Doel-3 And Tihange-2 After Unexpected RPV Test Results

Thursday, March 27, 2014

26 Mar (NucNet): The Doel-3 and Tihange-2 nuclear reactor units in Belgium were shut down today after tests related to the reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) showed “unexpected results”, Electrabel, a subsidiary of French energy company GDF Suez and operator of the stations, said.

Tests carried out at Belgium’s nuclear research reactor BR-2 in Mol consisted of accelerated irradiation of a test block with the same composition and properties as the Doel-3 and Tihange-2 RPVs.

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Exclusive: Dungeness nuclear power station quietly taken offline for five months over fears of Fukushima-style flood disaster

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The energy giant EDF has been accused of playing down the threat of flooding at Dungeness after it emerged that one of the nuclear power plant’s reactors was quietly shut down for five months last year after experts identified risk of a Fukushima-style disaster.

EDF closed the reactor on the Kent coast on 22 May to allow work on a new flood protection wall, after alerting the Office of Nuclear Regulation that without urgent work the site was at risk of being inundated by sea water.

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Russian state nuclear firm in talks to build power station in the UK

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Britain is in talks with the Russian state nuclear company about building a nuclear power station in the UK, an official said on Tuesday.

Hergen Haye, head of new nuclear development at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), told students at Edinburgh University that active discussions were taking place in London after a memorandum of understanding had been signed with Russia. "I can tell you that, behind closed doors and with microphones switched off, there are interesting debates happening in Whitehall," he said. "Russia wants to build a nuclear power station in the UK."

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Czech Ministers Call for Russian Firm's Exclusion from Energy Bid

Monday, March 10, 2014

Human Rights Minister Says Rosatom Should Not continue with Temelin Bid

PRAGUE—Czech ministers for human rights and defense said on Monday that they think the Russian state-run nuclear engineering company Rosatom should be excluded from a $10 billion tender for new reactors following Moscow's occupation of the Crimean peninsula.

"I personally cannot imagine that the Russians would continue to participate in the tender to expand Temelin," said Jiri Dienstbier Jr, Minister for Human Rights.

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Finnish nuclear plant delayed again as Areva, TVO bicker

Monday, March 3, 2014

HELSINKI/PARIS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Finland's TVO was unable on Friday to estimate a start date for its long-delayed Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor as the utility and French supplier Areva, already battling in court, blamed each other for the latest delays.

Finnish daily Kauppalehti cited sources from the site saying the startup of the reactor could be delayed until at least 2018 as work had slowed.

Early last year, Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) said the start might be delayed until 2016. Construction of the Areva-designed EPR reactor began in 2005 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2009.

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Risk of nuclear leak sparks call for installation of flood defences

Monday, February 24, 2014

Managers of a nuclear waste dump on the Cumbria coast have been ordered to start preparations to defend the site against floods and erosion, amid fears that radioactive material could one day leak into the sea.

Much of the waste buried in vaults and concrete trenches at the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) near the village of Drigg originates from one of the world's most contaminated nuclear sites, Sellafield, a few miles away. The waste dump is expected ultimately to require protective flood barriers.

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Zeeland energy firm Delta hires Morgan Stanley to assess its future

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Energy group Delta, which is still in the hands of Zeeland local authorities, has hired merchant bank Morgan Stanley to investigate a potential merger or sale, the Financieele Dagblad says on Wednesday.

'We are taking a broad approach,' a spokesman told the paper. 'We can continue as an independent, merge or be sold off, and that could involve an international company.'

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First ever Russian nuclear fuel for Western reactor

Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Russian-developed and manufactured TVS Kvadrat (TVS-K) fuel will be destined for the Ringhals 3, pressurised water reactor (PWR) of Sweden. Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer- TVEL, a sister concern of Rosatom, for the first time in history to supply such fuel assembly for the western design reactors.

Under an agreement signed between TVEL and Swedish state-owned concern – Vattenfall, Russia to make the first shipment of TVS-Kvadrat in April for the Ringhals 3 NPP, Informed Valborg Bjorn, Head of the North-European subdivision of Vattenfall.

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