Nuclear power in Europe

Finland and Sweden are working on technology for the safe burial of nuclear waste in bedrock. A partly Finnish-designed machine was on display at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden. The purpose of the device is to transport the dangerous materials deep into caverns excavated for the purpose.

The highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel needs to be isolated for at least 100,000 years.

Sweden is preparing to bury a total of about 12,000 tonnes of radioactive uranium waste. (more…)

Nov 17 (Interfax) - The Russian nuclear fuel producer TVEL and Slovenske Elektrarne signed two long- term contracts on the production and delivery of fuel to Slovak nuclear power plants on Monday, an Interfax correspondent reported from the signing ceremony.

Slovenske Elektrarne Director General Paolo Ruzzini and TVEL President Yuri Olenin are signatories to the document. The ceremony took place at the TVEL Machine-Building Plant. (more…)

Regulators warn against common EU standards.

The European Commission will scale down its ambitions for EU-wide nuclear-safety rules when it publishes a draft directive next week (27 November). (more…)

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…)

MOSCOW, Nov. 18 (UPI) — An uncompleted project to clean up a radioactive former dump in a densely populated Moscow suburb is endangering the health of residents, advocates say.

A mound along Marshala Rokossovskogo Boulevard that for years was used by children as a sledding hill actually contained radioactive waste dumped there in the 1940s and 1950s, and after beginning an excavation to enable the building of new apartments on the site, officials have suspended the operation, the Moscow Times reported Tuesday. (more…)

NPP Belene meets the highest requirements for third generation NPPs, Harmut Pam, vice president of ‘Nuclear Power Plants’ department at RWE Power, said. The Bulgarian government has chosen RWE Power as the main investor in the construction of the second NPP in Bulgaria. Harmut Pam gave a lecture before the 3rd Annual European Conference on ‘Next NPPs generation’ currently taking place in Sofia. According to RWE Power’s strategy, NPP Belene will meet all safety and long-term exploitation requirements, Harmut Pam said. He also pointed out that the development of EU energy production needed secure supply, stable prices of raw materials and climate protection.

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…)

Astravets regional executive committee denied public activists Mikalay Ulasevich and Ivan Kruk a right to hold informational pickets at the territory of Astravets district Hrodna region.

They applied to hold 5 informational pickets 9n November (two in Astravets, others in Mikhalishki, Varanyany and Hervyaty) against construction of a nuclear power station in the region, the human rights centre “Viasna” informs. (more…)

The international financial crisis, whose impact is felt in Romania, could trigger a rise in the costs with the manpower, and a fall in the demand of nuclear energy, said, on November 12, general manager of Nuclearelectrica Teodor Chirica, at a forum on “Energy in Central and Eastern Europe.”

“The international financial crisis will affect, somehow, the field of nuclear energy. So, the costs with the manpower will increase, and the demand of energy will decline,” said Chirica. (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…)