German energy giant RWE has appointed advisers for a strategic review of Urenco the nuclear power company it co-owns with the British and Dutch government.
The move could press the UK Government to formalise its own strategy on disposal of the company, which is expected to net UK taxpayers 1bn.
The government's energy policy took another blow on Friday as major energy provider RWE reviewed whether to scale down or abandon its UK nuclear programme.
The German-owned utility, which owns the npower supply business, has started an internal probe of its plans to construct two possible atomic power stations at Wylfa in Wales and Oldbury in Gloucestershire.
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, July 11 (Reuters) - Germany's cartel office said on Monday it would "closely" examine any investment by Gazprom in RWE after reports the weakened German utility was open to an investment by the Russian gas monopoly.
Essen-based RWE has been hit by loss-making gas contracts and weak power prices, and is also under threat from a German tax on nuclear fuel that came into effect this year.
Bulgarians "risk being cold" this winter if the government did not move forward with the Russian energy projects. This is what Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin said, off-the-record, to his Bulgarian counterpart, Boyko Borisov, during the summit in Gdansk in September, 2009. The tone of the sentence in question is not clear, we cannot judge if it was threatening enough, but obviously it seriously impressed Borisov in order for him to report it in a timely manner and for Putin’s words to find their place in the classified documents of the American diplomacy.
Russia is proposing to build a high-voltage electricity cable from Kaliningrad to Germany across the Baltic Sea to export power produced from a newly to be built nuclear power plant. The cable would be laid alongside the last part of the gas pipeline Nordstream that Gazprom is building together with western partners and that will be used to transport gas direct from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea. The electricity cable would similarly bypass third countries, in this case Poland. A representative from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs says he does not expect Germany to be willing to acquiesce to the plan. ‘I cannot imagine that the German public will want to import nuclear power (“Atomstrom”) from Russia’, he says.
Although the information hasn’t made front page headlines yet, the biggest behind-the-scenes swarm of lobbyists is now hovering over the construction of two additional reactors at the Temelín nuclear plant. The actual deal looks "somewhat" different. The state-owned energy giant ČEZ is looking to secure five nuclear reactors: two for Temelín and another three for power plants that the energy company plans to build abroad, altogether, a contract worth CZK 500 billion. It’s a gigantic tender, the biggest in Czech history.
Germany has adopted a seemingly contradictory set of policies in its effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase energy security. While it has greatly emphasized renewable energy, the government remains committed to a phase-out of nuclear power and to the construction of new gas pipelines from Russia.
KIEV, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's government has proposed allocating 450 million hryvnias ($90 million) in next year's budget to set up a strategic nuclear fuel reserve, the country's UNIAN new agency said.
"I think we will start gradually forming a fuel reserve next year," Yuri Nedashkovsky, head of state nuclear power utility Energoatom, was quoted as saying on Thursday.
He said the allocation had been included in the draft budget for 2009.
KIEV, Ukraine, March 31 (UPI) -- Utility giant Westinghouse Electric Co. signed a contract Monday to supply Ukraine's nuclear power plants with fuel from 2011-15, the company said.
Ukraine relies heavily on natural gas supplies from Russia, RIA Novosti reported. As such, in January 2006, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko announced plans to initiate nuclear fuel production in the country.
Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:04am EST
SOFIA, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's state power utility NEK said on Thursday it had asked strategic investors to file improved offers to acquire a 49-percent stake in a planned new nuclear power plant by Jan. 9.
NEK executive director Lyubomir Velkov told reporters all five short-listed bidders had been invited to sweeten their bids for the 2,000 megawatt, 4.0 billion euro ($5.75 billion) power plant at the Danube river town of Belene.
