Nuclear power in Europe

A nuclear leak, which could have caused a major disaster, was only averted by a chance decision to wash some dirty clothes, according to a newly obtained official report.

On the morning of Sunday 7 January 2007, one of the contractors working on decommissioning the Sizewell A nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast was in the laundry room when he noticed cooling water leaking on to the floor from the pond that holds the reactor’s highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. (more…)

Today, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in the United Kingdom announced that the competition for the new contract for the cleanup of the Magnox reactor sites will commence in 2011. Award of the contract is expected by the end of 2012. EnergySolutions will continue to lead this important cleanup project during this time period and it will bid on the new contract.
The NDA stated that it would select a single operator for Magnox North Limited, Magnox South Limited and Research Sites Restoration Limited. (more…)

ENVIRONMENT Agency bosses have decided not to prosecute the operator of Sizewell A over an incident which saw thousands of gallons of water contaminated when radioactivity escaped into the North Sea.

The incident, in January 2007, involved the fracture of a plastic pipe in a cooling pond building where highly radioactive spent fuel rods are stored under water prior to their despatch to the Sellafield reprocessing works in Cumbria. (more…)

The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has formally advised the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate – the country’s nuclear safety regulator – that it plans to extend the operating life at Oldbury nuclear power station, the NDA said Wednesday. (more…)

E.ON UK has entered into a transmission connection agreement with National Grid for up to 1600MWe of new capacity at Oldbury.

The Oldbury-on-Severn site named in the agreement is owned by National Grid and is the location of a substation. The site is adjacent to the Oldbury nuclear power station, which is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and has two 225MWe Magnox units that are due to cease operation at the end of this year. (more…)

BUSINESS is being encouraged to capitalise on the demise of Wales’ nuclear power stations.

The Welsh Assembly Government is working with Magnox North to develop a local supply chain and identify a range of potential opportunities for local businesses.

It is hoped the measures will help businesses raise their game to ensure they have the capacity and capability to benefit from the decommissioning of nuclear power stations in the region. (more…)

Energysolutions and its partner Toshiba have offered to kick start the UK’s stalled nuclear clean-up programme – in return for being given the sites to build a new fleet of reactors.

At present French utility company EDF is leading the race to buy nuclear generator British Energy and start the new-build programme. But the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which owns the public sector’s old nuclear sites, has also put these on the block for firms interested in building new reactors. (more…)

The nuclear industry in Britain is killing billions of fish every year and taking a devastating toll of stocks, an Oxford University academic suggests.

The impact can be so severe in the worst-affected regions of the seas around Britain that death rates are equivalent to half the commercial catch for some species. (more…)

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on Wednesday will appeal to industry for help in dealing with the UK’s 100-tonne stockpile of plutonium, and in deciding whether to treat it as waste or reuse it as fuel for nuclear reactors.

One option being considered is for the highly radioactive plutonium to be used to make fuel for a new nuclear reactor at Sellafield, where the plutonium is currently stored. But the question of whether the plutonium should be used or disposed of could reopen the debate on nuclear reprocessing and whether spent fuel from the next generation of nuclear reactors should be reused. (more…)

POWER companies are to be offered a new range of potential sites to construct nuclear power stations in Britain.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a government agency in charge of the £70 billion-plus clean-up of the UK atomic legacy, is expected to open talks shortly. (more…)