Nuclear power in Europe

BRUSSELS, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Belgium may extend the lifetimes of its three oldest nuclear power stations by ten years to 2025 to guard against energy shortages, newspaper De Standaard reported on Friday.
The plants, two in Doel near the northern city of Antwerp and one in Tihange in southeastern Belgium, are due to close in 2015.

But Energy Minister Paul Magnette will submit a report to the government on Friday that concludes Belgium will face energy supply problems if the plants close on schedule, De Standaard said. (more…)

PARIS, Feb 18 (Reuters) – French utility GDF Suez has decided to pull out of Bulgaria’s planned atomic power plant of Belene to focus on its other nuclear projects, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. GDF Suez’s Belgian subsidiary Electrabel had been in talks to take part in German utility RWE’s 49-percent stake in Bulgaria’s 4 billion euro plant.

The Balkan country is building the 2,000 megawatt plant to help it regain its position as a major exporter in Southeast Europe and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (more…)

SOFIA, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Romania is due to sign a deal with selected foreign bidders to build two more reactors at its nuclear power plant in Cernavoda on Nov. 20, one of the investors, GDF Suez, said on Tuesday. Earlier this year, the Balkan country decided to retain a 51 percent stake in the planned reactors and leave the remaining 49 percent for the six bidders it chose last year as partners.

The partners are Belgian Electrabel, owned by French power giant GDF Suez, German power giant RWE, Czech utility CEZ, Italy’s Enel, Spain’s Iberdrola and a Romanian unit of steel giant ArcelorMittal. (more…)

SOFIA, Nov 18 (Reuters) – French power giant GDF Suez said on Tuesday it would decide whether to share a stake in a Bulgarian nuclear project with RWE after examining a deal agreed between the German utility and Sofia.

The Bulgarian government last month chose RWE to become a strategic partner for a 49 percent stake in the planned Belene plant and gave the option to split the stake with the second-listed bidder, Belgian Electrabel, owned by GDF Suez. (more…)

DOHA, Nov 10 (Reuters) – French oil and gas giant Total is targeting nuclear energy to drive growth long after oil and gas output peak, a top executive said on Monday.

“In the future, energy demand will be constrained by tight supply,” Arnaud Chaperon, Total’s senior vice president for electricity and new energies, said in a presentation to a nuclear energy conference in Qatar. (more…)

Electrabel has reacted strongly against a plan from the Belgian government to force a one-off payment of €250 million ($338 million) from nuclear power generators.

The company’s parent group, GdF-Suez has told the Belgian government that it “emphatically protests” a draft of new legislation which requires nuclear operators – and nuclear operators only – to make a “contribution” of €250 million to government coffers for the 2008 financial year. (more…)

AMSTERDAM, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Belgium’s proposals to charge the country’s nuclear power generators a one-off tax of 250 million euros ($339.8 million) are in conflict with previous agreements, Belgian energy company Electrabel said.

The Belgian cabinet is set to present a bill to parliament to levy the charge against all nuclear players in the country for 2008 in return for keeping five out of seven of the country’s nuclear reactors open. (more…)

SOFIA, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Bulgaria is close to choosing a winner between Belgian energy firm Electrabel and Germany’s RWE AG to make a strategic investment in a planned 4 billion euro ($5.6 billion) nuclear plant, Bulgarian utility NEK said on Thursday.

In August, state-owned NEK asked RWE and Electrabel, owned by France’s GDF Suez, to improve their offers for a 49 percent stake in the plant it is building to restore Bulgaria’s position as a leading power exporter in southeastern Europe. (more…)

Turkey received six envelopes in the tender for the construction of the first nuclear power plant but only one of them was a bid, the general manager of Turkey’s Electricity Trade Corp (TETAS) said Wednesday.

Haci Duran Gokkaya said Russian Atomstroyexport is the sole bidder of the tender, adding the rest of the submitted envelopes were expressions of thanks. (more…)

ANKARA, Sept 22 (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday there was no plan to postpone a tender to build and operate Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, scheduled for Wednesday.

Turkey has set a deadline of Sept. 24 for bids to build the plant at Akkuyu near Mersin on the Mediterranean coast with a capacity of 4,000 megawatts, plus or minus 25 percent. (more…)