PARIS, April 30 (Reuters) - France must decide in the next few years whether it wants to continue its nuclear-driven energy policy at a cost of up to 300 billion euros ($415 billion) or if it wants to embark on an equally costly route towards using other fuels.
Most of the country's 58 nuclear reactors were built during a short period in the 1980s, and about half will reach their designed age limits of 40 in the 2020s, pushing France towards what industry calls "the nuclear cliff."
Nov 12 (Reuters) - French state-controlled utility EDF will consider extending the depreciation period for its nuclear plants, its chief executive told a newspaper, potentially freeing up cash for the country's promised shift towards greener energy.
Sources close to the matter told Reuters in September that France could help finance a drive for more renewable energy by extending the depreciation period of EDF's nuclear plants, which would boost EDF's profit and the dividends it pays the government.
FRANKFURT/AMSTERDAM, March 27 (Reuters) - Dutch nuclear reactor Borssele has been given permission to operate up to 2033, though the approval can still be contested, Dutch and German stakeholders said on Wednesday.
Started in 1973, the 500 megawatt plant is one of the oldest reactors in Europe. It is 70 percent owned by Dutch generator Delta, in turn owned by Dutch provincial authorities, and 30 percent by German utility RWE.
Spain's new government will ask nuclear regulators for advice on the continued operation of the Garoña nuclear power plant, which was dealt an arbitrarily short operating licence by the previous administration.
Yesterday the Spanish cabinet revoked an order from 2009 that set July 2013 as the latest time that Garoña may be used for power generation. The next step is for the Nuclear Safety Council (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear, CSN) to consider the technical possibilities for longer operation and what technical improvements it may require. The Spanish government is expected to order this work imminently.
BERLIN Feb 28 (Reuters) - Five states controlled by the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) will challenge in Germany's highest court on Monday the centre-right government's decision to extend the lifespan of nuclear power plants.
Contesting the decision to keep Germany's 17 nuclear plants running for about 12 years beyond their original shutdown date, the states will file a challenge to the Constitutional Court, citing improper legislative procedure.
Berlin - Germany's extension of the legal lifetimes of 17 nuclear power plants passed into law Wednesday, with President Christian Wulff assenting to the legislation in Berlin.
The 12-year deferment of the sunset date for nuclear power, a key policy plank of Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, still faces challenges by anti-nuclear opponents in the courts.
Controversial German writer and television presenter Charlotte Roche has offered to have sex with German president Christian Wulff if he blocks legislation to extend the operating lives of the country's nuclear power plants. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, the 32-year-old anti-nuclear activist said: "I am offering to sleep with him if he does not sign the legislation."
She added, "My husband agrees. Now it is up to the First Lady to give her consent."
Despite public protests and angry diatribes from the opposition, the German government on Thursday took the first major hurdle in a parliamentary vote toward extending the lifespans of nuclear power plants.
FRANKFURT, Oct. 4 (Reuters) - German utilities' gamble of sacrificing near-term profits in exchange for extending the lifespans of their 17 nuclear plants is pressuring shares and may misfire if the political situation changes.
Last month, the government agreed with the four operators of Germany's nuclear power plants to extend the plants' life by 12 years on average in exchange for at least 31 billions euros ($42.45 billion) of payments.
LINGEN, Germany - (Dow Jones)- German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday said she is in favor of the country's nuclear power plant operators making further financial contributions in return for longer reactor operating lives, which would come on top of a tax on nuclear fuel her government has proposed to help reduce the public budget deficit.
