Nuclear power in Europe

WARSAW (IDN) – Backed by the U.S. and France, Poland is set to tread the nuclear path and hopes to start generating atomic power by 2021. Presently, coal accounts for over 93 percent of the eastern European country’s electricity, demand for which is expected to double by 2025.

A four-stage plan announced by Hanna Trojanowska, the government’s Plenipotentiary for Nuclear Energy, envisages appropriate legislation by the end of 2010; site, technology and construction arrangements between 2011 and 2013; technical plans and site works in 2014 and 2015; and construction from 2016 to 2020. (more…)

The European Union is heading for a clash with other major economies over the timetable for building an experimental fusion reactor.

European governments want to slow down construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) because they are paying for the bulk of the construction costs and are concerned that the budget is spiralling out of control. Other countries involved in the ITER project are, however, strongly opposed to any kind of delay. (more…)

Wind energy provided more than half of Spain’s total electricity needs for several hours over the weekend as the country set a new national record for wind-generated power.

With high winds gusting across much of the country, Spain’s huge network of windfarms jointly poured the equivalent of 11 nuclear power stations’ worth of electricity into the national grid. (more…)

OLKILUOTO, Finland — As the Obama administration tries to steer America toward cleaner sources of energy, it would do well to consider the cautionary tale of this new-generation nuclear reactor site.

The massive power plant under construction on muddy terrain on this Finnish island was supposed to be the showpiece of a nuclear renaissance. The most powerful reactor ever built, its modular design was supposed to make it faster and cheaper to build. And it was supposed to be safer, too. (more…)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday required makers of new nuclear power plants to design the reactors so they can withstand the impact from a commercial jetliner.

The commission’s approval of the regulation concludes more than two years of deliberations over the potential threat of a large aircraft crashing into a nuclear power plant, an issue that gained attention after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (more…)

Platts – The US, France and Japan are working to put international mechanisms into place to help finance construction of nuclear power plants in the US and elsewhere, government officials and financial analysts said this month.

Two principal targets are international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, and national export credit agencies, the sources said. (more…)

WASHINGTON: Germany has returned more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of highly enriched uranium fuel to the U.S. for safeguarding from terrorists or potential misuse, the government said Tuesday.

The National Nuclear Security Administration said the spent fuel shipment was transported by ship and rail under secret and secure conditions. Spokeswoman Casey Ruberg said the material was secured at a site in the southern state of South Carolina on Sept. 23. (more…)

Nuclear waste from Italy won’t be rolling into Utah anytime soon.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it is postponing a decision on whether low-level radioactive waste from Italy can be buried in Tooele County. In order to grant a license, federal regulators must be sure that the waste has somewhere suitable to go, and they won’t have that assurance unless a federal court ruling clears the way, the NRC said. (more…)

WASHINGTON DC – The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Romanian Frontier Police (FP) today announced an agreement to coordinate efforts to prevent nuclear smuggling by installing radiation detection equipment at multiple border crossings in Romania. The agreement signed today provides the framework for the two countries to work together to detect illicit shipments of nuclear and other radioactive material. (more…)

Expert accuses US Nuclear Regulatory Commission of shunning safe practice and hushing-up his independent guidance

THE accusation: “They refused to forward my questions to the applicant. They want[ed] me to water things down [and didn't] want me to criticise. I was not allowed to provide independent review.” In this case ‘they’ is the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the ‘applicant’ is Shaw Areva Mox Services (SAMS), and the disgruntled tce quotee is Daniel Tedder, professor emeritus of chemical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, US. (more…)