Nuclear power in Europe

MINSK, 22 January (BelTA) – The construction of the nuclear power plant in Belarus will bring down energy production prime cost by 20%, Deputy Energy Minister of Belarus Mikhail Mikhadyuk said during the online conference on the BelTA website on 22 January.

“The study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus revealed that after the nuclear power plant is commissioned the prime cost of electric energy production will be reduced by about 20%, the calculations however did not take into consideration the increase in gas prices. The purchase of natural gas will decrease by 4-5 billion cubic meters,” the Deputy Energy Minister said. (more…)

The Western media reported last week on how the German company Urenco shipped nuclear material to Siberia, where the highly toxic waste was stored in containers in the open air. The company has stopped deliveries and will store the material with higher standards in Germany in the future.

The radiation warning sign was so small that few passers-by took note in the commuter rail station in Kapitolovo, Russia. Fifty-six steel canisters were sitting there on a summer day three years ago. Just a stone’s throw away, people were waiting for trains to take them to downtown St. Petersburg. (more…)

One day after German utility RWE said that it was pulling out of the proposed Bulgarian nuclear power plant at Belene, Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom said that it was still interested in taking a stake in the project, Russian business daily Vedomosti said on October 29.

Rosatom’s interest in the plant, announced earlier by chief executive Sergey Kirienko, remained unchanged by RWE’s announcement, Vedomosti quoted a company spokesperson as saying. The spokesperson did not provide further details, the newspaper said. (more…)

Anne Lauvergeon is used to fighting tough battles, but this time the chief executive of Areva, whose combative style has in the past earned her the soubriquet “Madame Non”, is in danger of facing her final round.

The French government is nearing a decision on the future of Areva, its state-owned nuclear champion, and with it the fate of one of France’s most internationally recognised business figures. (more…)

Kyiv, November 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft agreement with the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan about the joint participation in the International uranium enrichment center in Angarsk, Irkutsk region, Russia.

The Cabinet of Ministers passed a respective resolution on November 19 2008. (more…)

Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation has presented to the Energy Ministry its vision of the scenarios of Russia’s nuclear development depending on how the financial crisis unfolds, the state corporation’s deputy chief Alexander Lokshin told RBC today. He explained that the move had been made at the request of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, adding that other ministries and agencies were also required to submit their forecasts. The information is to be reviewed at a meeting of a commission headed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. Lokshin also pointed out that, despite the crisis, none of developed countries had scaled down its nuclear energy program.

MOSCOW, Nov. 18 (UPI) — Russia’s state-run uranium mining concern Atomredmetzoloto said it would increase uranium production to 3,841 tons this year.

Proven uranium reserves in Russia have reached 545,000 metric tons, a 275 percent increase from 2006, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said Tuesday, RIA Novosti reported. (more…)

Agreements on cooperation to revive Italy’s nuclear sector and give LUKoil a foothold in the European refining sector topped a slew of deals signed Thursday, overseen by President Dmitry Medvedev and visiting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

But Berlusconi, renowned for impolitic and controversial statements, grabbed the most attention with comments about Barack Obama, describing the U.S. president-elect as “young, attractive and even suntanned.” (more…)

Governor of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Ilya Mikhalchuk, is planning a meeting with Rosatom leader Sergey Kirienko in a bid to revitalize plans for a nuclear power plant in the region.

According to Dvinainform.ru, Governor Mikhalchuk will in the near future meet with the leader of Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom to discuss the project. (more…)

Experts from the Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom are preparing for the removal of spent nuclear fuel from a submarine reactor in the base of Gremikha on the Barents Sea coast. The operation is highly complicated and dangerous, they say.

The spent nuclear fuel will be removed from a reactor formerly belonging to a “Alfa”-class submarine. The operation is part of the Russian effort to decommission and scrap the many retired nuclear subs left after the Soviet period. (more…)