Uranium

Mitsui signs accord to explore Uzbekistan uranium

Thursday, July 17, 2008

TOKYO, July 17 (Reuters) - Mitsui & Co, Japan's second-largest trading firm, and Uzbekistan agreed on Thursday to look at forming a joint venture for the exploration of uranium in the Central Asian country.

Securing new exploration projects in Central Asia is key to Japan, which relies on nuclear power for over 25 percent of its electricity. It currently imports some 60 percent of its uranium from Australia and Canada.

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Russian Company Retains Contract to Supply Nuclear Fuel to Slovakia

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Bratislava, 16 July: Russian open joint-stock company TVEL has maintained its position in Slovakia, having won the tender for the supply of nuclear fuel for five power-generating units of the local Mochovce and Bohunice nuclear power plants until 2015, management company Slovenskie Elektrarne has reported.

These plants were built to Russian design and equipped with VVER-440 reactors.

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NPP Employee Suspects Nuclear Fuel Fraud

Monday, July 14, 2008

There is a possibility that a corruption scheme for the supply of nuclear fuel was created at the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) "Kozloduy", according to statements made before Darik radio by Georgi Kotev.
Kotev is an employee of the NPP and had initially made his accusations through a popular video clips Internet site.

According to the NPP employee beginning in 2004, "Kozloduy" might have been importing recycled fuel instead of new one and the NPP's top management has been personally profiting from the price difference.The NPP Director Ivan Genov firmly denied Kotov's allegations.

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French uranium leak was low level - safety authority

Friday, July 11, 2008

PARIS (Reuters) - France's nuclear safety authority (ASN) said on Thursday it had provisionally classified a leak of liquid containing uranium on a site in southeastern France earlier this week at level one of the INES nuclear scale.

The International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), used to measure the potential danger of incidents at nuclear installation, has seven levels, the lowest of which is zero.

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Country's nuclear plants are facing fuel shortage: Kakodkar

Monday, June 9, 2008

HYDERABAD: Demand and supply for uranium will continue to be affected for some more years though efforts are on to get additional supplies, Chairman Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary Department of Atomic Energy, Anil Kakodkar on saturday said.

Kakodkar, who was in the city to participate in the Nuclear Fuel Complex Day celebration here today, said that currently the nuclear power plants in the country were working at half their capacity nearly of 4,000 MW due to the fuel shortage.

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Uranium output met only 60% of world requirements: OECD agency

Monday, June 9, 2008

World uranium production at the end of 2006 was 39,603 tonnes, meeting only 60% of world nuclear reactor requirements, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Nuclear Energy Agency said in a biannual report released Tuesday.

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The Kazakh Rockefeller of Nuclear Fuel

Saturday, May 17, 2008

KAMENOGORSK, Kazakhstan — The flame-licked doors of a hydrogen furnace clattered open at a Cold War-era bomb factory in Kazakhstan's Ural Mountains, spilling a tray of baked metal capsules into the pale winter light. Each enriched-uranium pellet the size of a Brazil nut packs almost as much energy as a ton of coal.

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Power plant wants to use plutonium

Saturday, May 17, 2008

The Netherlands only commercial power plant at Borssele wants to begin using plutonium to generate electricity, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Thursday.

The plant’s owners, regional electricity firm EPZ, has made a formal application to the environment ministry.

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Afghan 'health link' to uranium

Monday, May 5, 2008

Doctors in Afghanistan say rates of some health problems affecting children have doubled in the last two years.

Some scientists say the rise is linked to use of weapons containing depleted uranium (DU) by the US-led coalition that invaded the country in 2001.

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Nuclear may lose green tag if fuel costs rise

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

More energy and water will be needed to extract and process high-grade uranium in the future, according to a new study. So what will this mean for those advocating nuclear power as a green technology?

News analysis Environmental costs of nuclear power are likely to increase as high-grade uranium becomes harder to find, according to new research that has been challenged by the uranium industry.

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