Two safety scares at nuclear power stations in EU states Slovenia and the Czech republic in the past 48 hours were swiftly resolved, but will do little for Brussels' campaign to restore public confidence in the sector.
A water leak from the primary coolant unit in Slovenia's Krsko nuclear plant on Wednesday (4 June) afternoon forced the 25-year old facility to shut down its single reactor for emergency repairs.
The Bulgarian government is pushing the European Commission for at least another €550 million to compensate it for the forced closure of its Kozloduy nuclear power complex.
The Croatian Electrical Company held back information about a malfunction at the Krsko nuclear power plant for 3 hours.
Brussels/Ljubljana - European Union officials Thursday defended sending out the first EU-wide nuclear safety alert after a minor leak at a Slovenian power plant, saying the public needed to know.
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency rated Wednesday's leak and shutdown at the Western-built Krsko plant as the least dangerous on its emergency scale - not even an 'incident.'
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - A water leak at Slovenia's Krsko nuclear plant threatened to overshadow European Union environment talks on Thursday, as Slovenia reassured there was no danger and fended off criticism of its handling of the case.
The accident at the plant tripped the EU's "Ecurie" early warning system on Wednesday afternoon, but some member states were initially informed that the incident was a drill.
LJUBLJANA, June 4 (Reuters) - Slovenia's only nuclear power plant was shut down on Wednesday because of a water leak but there was no impact on the environment and the situation was "fully under control", Slovenian and EU officials said.
"The plant was shut down and the leakage was located already. Now the plant will have to cool down for a day or so before the leakage can be repaired," Andrej Stritar, head of the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration, told Reuters.
Sealing radioactive waste at an underground disposal site in Asse, Germany, by flooding is the cheapest of several waste management options but would produce dangerous amounts of radioactive methane in
groundwater within 150-750 years, according to a forthcoming report from the German radiation protection agency (BfS). The findings are significant because the site, an ex-salt mine containing nuclear research waste, is geologically similar to the planned long-term disposal site at Gorleben. The report could influence calculations of nuclear waste disposal costs.
* Developing countries that have expressed interest in French nuclear power technology can't implement it anytime soon.
* A French-led global nuclear power renaissance is problematic, since the country's nonproliferation record is poor.
* French nuclear reactors aren't as safe as its promoters claim.
* Nuclear power provides only a small portion of total French energy consumption.
After a meeting in Paris, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner have said that there has to be a debate on nuclear energy now that fuel prices are rising. The two ministers believe the European Union should be less dependent on oil and gas imports and more thought should be put into new energy sources including nuclear power.
SOLAR panels and other small-scale home energy devices could save the same amount of carbon dioxide as taking all lorries and buses off UK roads within 12 years, according to a new report.
The research found that up to nine million gadgets, from wind turbines to solar panels, could be installed on homes by 2020, if new policies are put in place.
