Nuclear power in Europe

Vinci SA of France, Brussels-based Suez-Tractebel SA and China Guandong Nuclear Power Group Co. are among the international companies to express interest in building Turkey’s first nuclear-power station.

Representatives from the companies, which all applied for documents in the Turkish government tender, will meet with Energy Minister Hilmi Guler in the capital Ankara on Monday, the ministry’s spokesman was quoted as saying by news agencies. (more…)

ANKARA, Turkey: Turkish police on Saturday detained 29 foreigners and three Turks during a peaceful protest against plans to build a nuclear power plant near a Black Sea port city.

The police broke up the protest in front of the governor’s office and “forcibly took” the protesters to a police station, said Niklas Hartmann of European Youth for Action, an environmentalist group. (more…)

Six people protesting the nuclear power plant planned to be built in Sinop, a Black Sea Coast Town, are taken into custody. The Greens Party asks the government to cancel the plan.

According to the announcement the Greens Party made today (August 20), the six people protesting the planned nuclear plant by having a sit-in in front of the Turkish Atomic Energy Institution (TAEK) in Sinop were taken into custody. (more…)

ISTANBUL, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Turkey’s Dogan Enerji signed an accord with Turkish, Belgian and Canadian firms on Wednesday to take part in a tender to build and operate Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, parent company Dogan Holding said.

Its partners in the deal are Turkish conglomerate Anadolu Endustri Holding, Brussels-based energy company Unit Investment N.V. and Canada’s Bruce Power, Dogan said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange. (more…)

A number of countries in central, eastern and southeastern Europe plan to build new nuclear power reactors or extend the life of existing ones to meet growing domestic demand and replace ageing power capacity.

The plans mirror a worldwide nuclear boom as part of the solution to climate change. (more…)

July 25 (Bloomberg) — Hale Oguz blames the cancer deaths of six relatives on the Chernobyl disaster across the Black Sea more than 20 years ago. Now she’s fighting plans for a nuclear plant near her home in Sinop on Turkey’s northern coast.

”Chernobyl isn’t history for us; it’s very fresh,” said Oguz, 54, as she walked her two dogs on a ridge overlooking the forested peninsula where the government plans a reactor. ”We are about to turn this paradise into a hell.” (more…)

A group of young people from several European countries are taking a cycling tour from Bulgaria to Turkey to show the world that travelling and a good life are possible without much energy consumption.

Fifteen people — from Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia, Spain, Portugal and a few other countries — started the 2008 Ecotopia Biketour Jul. 4 in Bulgarian capital Sofia. After travelling for about 600 km in Bulgaria and another 1,000 km in Turkey, over more than one month, they will reach their final destination, the city of Sinop on the Black Sea Coast in northern Turkey. More people are expected to join on the way. (more…)

GAZIANTEP - Turkey`s first nuclear power plant would probably be inaugurated in 2015, head of Turkish Electricity Trading Co. (TETAS) said on Tuesday.

Haci Duran Gokkaya, director general of TETAS, told the A.A correspondent that legal ground is already ready to produce nuclear energy in Turkey and the tender process –which started on March 24th, 2008– would end on September 24th, 2008. (more…)

Singers, actors and intellectuals opposing the building of nuclear power plants in Turkey have sent a statement to parliament. On 26 April, there will be a demonstration in Kadiköy, Istanbul.

The Global Action Group (KEG) has organised a campaign to protest against the introduction of nuclear energy to Turkey and calls on parliamentarians to support the exploitation of renewable energy sources. (more…)

ANKARA (Thomson Financial) - Turkey’s energy minister today invited bids for the construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant, which is to be built on the Mediterranean coast despite strong opposition from environmentalists.

‘I have officially launched the tender process today. This is the start of a very important and positive process for our country’s future,’, the Anatolia news agency quoted Energy Minister Hilmi Guler as saying. (more…)