Nuclear power in Europe

The Russian military allegedly dumped nuclear waste into the Baltic Sea in the early 1990s, according to a report on Swedish television.
Radioactive material from a military base in Latvia is thought to have been thrown into Swedish waters. For many the biggest shock is that the Swedish government may have known at the time and done nothing about it.

The partly enclosed Baltic Sea is known as one of the most polluted seas in the world. But now it seems it was also used as a dumping ground for Russian nuclear waste and chemical weapons. (more…)

Andres Mäe, researcher of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, Estonia, answered questions about prospects of energy security and nuclear industry of the Baltic region. (more…)

A little before dawn on a recent summer morning, a convoy of three large blue lorries, a handful of police cars and a bus rumbled along the dual carriageway heading north out of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. Even if it had not been so early, the motorcade would probably not have drawn much attention. The lorries were unmarked, the bus carrying a few sleepy policemen was old and scruffy, while the lumbering shipment was big and slow enough to explain the escort and its flashing blue lights. (more…)

VILNIUS, July 25 (Reuters) – Energy companies in the three Baltic states and Poland agreed on Friday to set up a joint venture to develop a nuclear power plant in Lithuania, the Lithuanian partner said.
The four countries have been negotiatng on the project for months and hammered out a deal on Friday in Copenhagen.

“The partners have agreed to Lithuania’s proposal to establish a joint project development company, in which LEO LT would hold a 51 percent stake,” Lithuania’s LEO LT said in a statement after a meeting.
Lithuania has said it wants to build a 3,200-3,400 megawatt nuclear power plant to replace its Soviet-era Ignalina nuclear facility, due to be shut down at the end of next year. (more…)

WASHINGTON — Bulgaria has sent its remaining highly enriched uranium to Russia for safeguarding from terrorist or other potential misuse.

Nearly 14 pounds of the spent fuel were received Thursday at a Russian nuclear facility, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced. A first shipment of 37.3 pounds of fresh uranium fuel was sent to Russia in December 2003. (more…)

(ELTA) – Parliamentary committees of the Baltic states are going to search for common solutions in the electronic area and energy security fields. The defense committees meeting on Wednesday consider the projects related to the new nuclear power plant and the electricity links to be the most important topics of their forth meeting. (more…)

RIGA, April 1 (RIA Novosti) – Latvia’s government made a decision on Tuesday to pay $700,000 to Russia for the removal and burial of spent nuclear fuel from the dismantled Salaspils research reactor. (more…)

By Stefan Wagstyl in Vilnius, Robert Anderson in Stockholm and Jan Cienski in Warsaw

The Baltic states and Poland are struggling to settle the political, commercial and environmental problems involved in their joint plan for a €7bn nuclear power station, aimed at easing expected regional electricity shortages and reducing dependence on Russian energy.
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The thaw between Poland and Brussels has sent a chill down spines in Lithuania.

Donald Tusk, the new Polish premier, arrived at the European Commission and parliament on Tuesday to show that his country was back in the centre of Europe. The era of the Kaczynskis, “the terrible twins”, picking fights with Brussels, was over.

The fear in Vilnius is that he may stop picking fights with Russia, too, leaving the Baltic republics, which only recently threw off the Soviet yoke, alone in the ring with the bear. Talks on resolving the Russian blockade of Polish meat, which in turn have held up a new EU-Russia partnership agreement to Brussels’ ill-concealed annoyance, start next week.
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VISAGINAS, Lithuania, Nov 29 (Reuters) – A planned new Lithuanian nuclear plant faces a delay of at least two years to 2017, the head of the country’s current sole atomic power facility said on Thursday. Viktor Shevaldin, head of the Ignalina nuclear plant, due to be shut down at the end of 2009 under Lithuania’s European Union entry terms, said several uncertainties remained about the planning and eventual construction of a new plant.
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