Nuclear power in Europe

An accident at Germany’s sole uranium enrichment facility in North Rhine Westphalia has left one worker in hospital under observation.

The incident occurred at the plant in the town of Gronau, when a room in the uranium enrichment facility was accidently exposed to radioactive material. The worker was in the room when the accident occurred, and was taken to the hospital as a precaution. He is expected to be released Friday. (more…)

PARIS, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Areva plans to speed up its investment in uranium enrichment, Les Echos reported on Thursday, citing senior executives at the French nuclear group. The group has decided to bring forward by three years a plan to build a second uranium enrichment facility at its Tricastin site in France, the paper said, noting other nuclear projects have been thrown into doubt because of the financial crisis. (more…)

Kyiv, November 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft agreement with the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan about the joint participation in the International uranium enrichment center in Angarsk, Irkutsk region, Russia.

The Cabinet of Ministers passed a respective resolution on November 19 2008. (more…)

STUTTGART, Germany: A German engineer has acknowledged that he helped procure parts for a centrifuge system that authorities say was meant for Libya’s now-abandoned nuclear weapons program, a court said Thursday.

Gotthard Lerch went on trial in June, accused of supplying Libya with sensitive technology in the knowledge that the country was seeking atomic weapons. Prosecutors have accused him of playing a key role in the network led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. (more…)

Turkey faces the risk of becoming heavily dependent on Russia uranium if the recent tender for Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, won by a Russian firm led consortium, is not canceled, analysts say.

Turkey’s energy dependency on Russia to rise after nuclear plant

“The tender for the nuclear plant was held in order to lessen the Turkey’s energy dependency to Russia, but if it is approved Turkey’s dependency to Russia will be even greater,” Necdet Pamir, an energy expert, told HotNewsTurkey. (more…)

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Uranium enrichment companies in the United States and Europe have seen an increase in customer interest after the recent conflict involving Russia and Georgia, industry sources said on Thursday.

Nuclear reactors are dependent on reliable supplies of fuel, made from uranium ore that has been converted into a gas which in turn is enriched into nuclear fuel. (more…)

As the nuclear industry enjoys a global revival, Kazatomprom is positioning itself to overtake Cameco as the world’s largest producer of uranium. It said in July that it expects to achieve this as early as next year, rather than in 2010 as originally planned.

The progress of Kazakhstan’s national atomic company is to a large degree due to the vision of its charismatic president Mukhtar Dzhakishev, helped by the country’s substantial uranium reserves and the Soviet technical legacy. (more…)

Accident investigators will today begin their investigation into the cause of an explosion at a company which makes centrifuges for the Urenco uranium factory in Almelo.

No-one was hurt in the blast, which the fire brigade describes as a ‘chemicals incident’. (more…)

MARSEILLE — An accidental spillage of waste containing uranium occurred Tuesday at one of France’s top nuclear plants but authorities said there was no immediate cause for concern, authorities said.

Some 30 cubic meters (over 1,000 cubic feet) of effluents containing 12 grams (easily less than half an ounce) of uranium per liter spilled out at the Tricastin Nuclear Power Centre in Bollene in southern France. (more…)

French energy major Suez and nuclear engineering company Areva have signed an agreement, giving Suez a 5% ownership interest in the company that holds the Georges Besse II uranium enrichment plant.

The facility, built by Areva at the Tricastin site in France’s Drome department, is based on ultra centrifuge technology. Suez, through its energy services business line, is building the electrical installations, and supplying the fluid management systems and the HVAC and process cooling equipment of the new plant, which is scheduled for startup in 2009. (more…)