British Energy planned to take its Torness reactor in Scotland offline over the weekend and was not forced to do so, chief executive Bill Coley told an investor day presentation at Heysham, Lancashire Tuesday.
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British Energy denies Torness outage was unplanned
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
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Spain gets new environment minister
Tuesday, April 15, 2008Spanish prime minister Jose Lues Rodriguez Zapatero has sacked Spanish environment minister Cristina Narbona as part of a reshuffle following confirmation of his own re-election as Spanish prime minister last Friday.
Mrs Narbona has been replaced by agriculture minister Elena Espinosa, who heads a new ministry combining environment and rural and marine resources. The development has been condemned as a "grave mistake" by environmentalists.
Spain's nuclear council checks 800 people after finding bigger-than-reported radioactive leak
Tuesday, April 15, 2008MADRID, Spain (AP) - Spain's Nuclear Safety Council says it is checking some 800 people for contamination after learning that a radioactive leak at a nuclear plant was larger than first reported.
Nuclear plants sucking the sea life from British waters, researchers claim
Monday, April 14, 2008The nuclear industry in Britain is killing billions of fish every year and taking a devastating toll of stocks, an Oxford University academic suggests.
The impact can be so severe in the worst-affected regions of the seas around Britain that death rates are equivalent to half the commercial catch for some species.
Chernobyl’s Harvest
Sunday, April 13, 2008It was 1:23 a.m. local time, April 26, 1986, when the operator flipped a switch to shut down Reactor 4. As he did so, a power surge triggered a blast of steam that blew the lid off of the top of the reactor, releasing a surge of radioactive particles into the spring night. A second explosion, again caused by the sudden buildup of pressure, turned part of the reactor into a fireball, sending more radioactive poison into the atmosphere.
EU complaint filed over Slovak nuclear plant
Sunday, April 13, 2008Environmental campaign group Greenpeace has filed a complaint with the European commission, alleging illegal state aid in the development of the controversial Mochovce nuclear power plant.
"Market-distorting measures" were put in place by Slovak authorities to persuade Slovak electricity utility Slovenske elektrarne, in which Italian firm Enel has a majority share, to participate in "what would otherwise have been an unviable and unattractive project," Greenpeace claims.
Defects found in nuclear reactor the French want to build in Britain
Sunday, April 13, 2008Safety investigators uncover cracks in the concrete base and substandard welds. Lack of recent experience in building nuclear plants said to have caused problem.
EDF's Flamanville nuclear plant site has 'shortcomings' - report
Saturday, April 12, 2008PARIS (Thomson Financial) - France's nuclear safety authority identified 'shortcomings' during an inspection in March of the Flamanville site where Bouygues is building a new nuclear power plant for EDF, Les Echos reported.
The authority criticised Bouygues for bad preparation of a concreting operation and asked EDF to supervise the work more closely, according to the business daily.
Spain nuclear plant leak below legal limit: watchdog
Tuesday, April 8, 2008MADRID (Reuters) - Radioactivity from a leak detected at Spain's Asco I nuclear power plant during refueling last November was below legal limits, Spain's nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday.
The Nuclear Safety Commission sent inspectors to the plant after being told on Friday that a routine inspection had detected radioactive particles on the outside of buildings at Asco I, in the northeast Catalonia region.
Urenco FY pretax profit after minorities 238.5 mln euros vs 209.1 mln
Monday, April 7, 2008LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Urenco Group said 2007 was another successful year for uranium enrichment company in which turnover rose 15 pct on the previous year to surpass 1 billion euros for the first time.
The company, one third owned by the UK government via British Nuclear Fuels Ltd., said full-year pretax profit after minorities grew to 238.5 million euros, largely driven by the strong performance of its existing operations.
