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MADRID, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Spain’s 1,000 megawatt Asco I nuclear plant began to step down power output on Tuesday with a view to disconnecting from the grid later in the day to fix an oil leak, a statement from the plant’s operators said.
That will reduce to six out of eight the number of Spain’s normally working nuclear power stations. (more…)
MILAN, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Italy, which rejected nuclear power 20 years ago, may see a nuclear plant up and running in 2017, the country’s biggest utility, Enel, said on Friday.
Italy banned nuclear power after holding a referendum on the issue in 1987, following the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine. But the nuclear-friendly government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to lift the ban and create conditions for a nuclear energy relaunch by 2012. (more…)
PALOMARES, Spain: The rest of the world has mostly forgotten, but the brush with nuclear Armageddon is seared on the minds of locals here and still niggles, 42 years later.
On the morning of Jan. 17, 1966, a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber returning from a routine Cold War alert mission exploded during airborne refueling, sending its cargo of B28 hydrogen bombs plummeting toward earth. One went into the azure waters of the Mediterranean and three others fell around this poor farming village, about 200 kilometers, or 125 miles, east of Granada. (more…)
VALENCIA, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Spain’s nuclear watchdog told plants on Wednesday that renewing their operating permits would depend on how they implemented tighter safety procedures spurred by a rash of unscheduled stoppages.
Among others, the Nuclear Safety Council reviewed safety plans at the 1,000 megawatt Asco I plant, which faces a hefty fine after the regulator asked for government sanctions over the management’s handling of a radioactive leak last November. (more…)
adrid - Spain’s Nuclear Security Council (CSN) will urge nuclear plant operators to invest more in their safety, the daily El Pais said Wednesday.
The CSN, which is the country’s top authority on nuclear energy, has called a meeting with plant operators in September following a string of incidents at Spanish plants. (more…)
MADRID, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Spain’s 500-megawatt Garona nuclear power station was reconnected to the grid early on Tuesday after an unscheduled halt on Monday, a spokesman said.
“We were reconnected at 2:15 a.m. (0015 GMT), have stepped up power gradually and are now at 99 percent of capacity, or 467 MW,” the spokesman said from the plant, which is near the northern city of Burgos. (more…)
MADRID, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Spain’s nuclear watchdog on Monday called for a meeting of plant operators following the second unscheduled disconnection of a reactor in as many days.
The Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) confirmed earlier reports by industry sources that the 500-megawatt Garona plant was off line, due to an error in work on high-voltage installations which automatically halted the plant. (more…)
MADRID (AFP) — A Spanish nuclear power plant shut down after an electrical generator fire Sunday, safety officials said, the latest incident at a reactor that has already been hit with record fines for its safety record.
The incident came just weeks after the government vowed to take action against another nuclear station over a radioactive leak last year. (more…)
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Almost half of adults in Spain are opposed to ending their country’s nuclear energy moratorium, according to a poll by Sigma Dos published in El Mundo. 48.3 per cent of respondents share this opinion, while 39.7 per cent support ending the ban.
In addition, 75.1 per cent of respondents would not consent to a nuclear power station being built in their own community. (more…)
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s government said on Tuesday it would take firm action against a nuclear plant after the watchdog pressed for charges over its handling of a radioactive leak for which 2,600 people had to be screened.
After a months-long investigation, the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) on Tuesday asked the government to sanction the Asco I plant on four charges of seriously breaching safety regulations arising from a leak in November. (more…)
