Nuclear power in Europe

The European Union and India are to co-operate more closely on civil nuclear research and development as a way of strengthening a partnership that has often been seen as falling short of its potential.

Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, and Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, announced the agreement on Monday at an EU­-India summit that also produced promises of closer co-ordination of climate change and energy security policies. (more…)

London (Platts)–21Jan2008

Russia is offering to loan Bulgaria 3.8 billion Euros (US$5.5 billion) for construction of two 1,000-MW-class reactors at Belene, a spokeswoman for Atomstroyexport, or ASE, said January 18. (more…)

(Novinite) Bulgaria will be able to start construction works on the planned Belene nuclear power plant no sooner than 2009, the head of the country’s nuclear regulator said on Monday.

The regulator is yet to rule on the technical details of the project and the proposed safety measures, said Sergey Tsochev, who chairs Bulgaria’s Nuclear Regulation Agency. (more…)

18:05 Mon 10 Dec 2007 – Rene Beekman

Environmental organisations Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth Europe, Urgewald, Bankwatch, WISE and the Bulgarian NGO coalition BeleNE! condemned on December 10 the European Commission´s (EC) favourable opinion on the Belene nuclear power project (NPP) in Bulgaria, a media statement by the organisations said.
(more…)

Fri Dec 7, 2007 2:13pm GMT

BRUSSELS, Dec 7 (Reuters) – The European Commission gave a green light o the construction of a new, 4-billion-euro ($5.82 billion) nuclear power plant in Bulgaria with capacity of 2,000 megawatts, it said on Friday.

“The Commission has decided today to give a favourable opinion to the initiative of Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania (NETC) of Bulgaria to build a new nuclear power plant at the site of Belene,” the EU executive said in a statement. (more…)

SOFIA: As governments around the world struggle to secure energy supplies, cut carbon emissions and adapt to rising oil prices, Bulgaria has adopted an ambitious solution: Construct a new nuclear power plant, the country’s second, near the northern town of Belene, across the Danube from Romania. (more…)

18 October 2007, Thursday

PM Stanishev (left) and Finance Minister Oresharski (right) have both backed the project to the hilt so far, and Bulgaria’s low foreign debt allows the cabinet to underwrite the loans.

Bulgaria’s cabinet decided on Monday to double the amount of debt it is willing to guarantee for the construction of the country’s second nuclear power plant at Belene. (more…)

Date of release: 24/09/2007

The European Investment Bank has signed a EUR 200 million loan with Urenco Ltd for the expansion of two uranium enrichment plants based in the UK and the Netherlands. This project forms part of the company’s medium-term investment programme, meeting global uranium enrichment demand by the use of Urenco’s world-leading energy-efficient technology. (more…)

With increasing energy-import dependency and the quest for climate-friendly energy production at the top of the EU’s political agenda, the Commission last week (21 September) announced the creation of a new research platform to study ’sustainable’ nuclear energy. (more…)