Nuclear power in Europe

VIENNA -- The U.S. has backed Serbian efforts to transfer the remaining nuclear waste at the Vinča Institute out of the country by 2010.

The U.S. delegation supported the project at the International Atomic Energy Association’s (IAEA) General Conference in Vienna, said Deputy Science and Technology Minister Miroslav Vesković.

VIENNA, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will provide $17 million to help improve safety at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster, and fully decommission it, a top Russian nuclear official said on Monday.

Three reactors of the Chernobyl plant continued to operate for several years after reactor number four exploded in 1986, the last reactor shutting down in 2000. The reactors still contain nuclear fuel rods, and require constant monitoring. The fourth reactor is housed in a Soviet-era sarcophagus set to be replaced by a $1.4 bln metal structure.

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Germany, which plans to end its use of nuclear power by 2021, has a ``critical'' lack of qualified nuclear scientists to inspect the 17 German atomic energy plants and maintain its expertise, Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said.

Germany must find ways to encourage people to enter the field even with the planned phaseout of nuclear energy, Gabriel said today at a Berlin briefing. The federal environment ministry, which is responsible for nuclear safety, has about 15 employees to oversee inspection for all of Germany, which isn't enough, he said.

The Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, located 9 miles from Belgrade, is Yugoslavia's oldest nuclear research institute. Established in 1948 as the Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, its efforts supposedly included an attempt to build a Yugoslav nuclear bomb. For almost 45 years, it collected Yugoslavia's and Serbia's radioactive waste.