Austria

Brussels against exporting nuclear waste outside EU

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Brussels is against member states exporting their nuclear waste to countries outside the EU or to store it in joint sites, energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger said, as the commission is working on a set of common safety standards for this dangerous material.

"It is the duty of national politicians to do their homework," Mr Oettinger told Financial Times Deutschland in an interview published on Wednesday (10 March). The German commissioner warned against common storage sites, as well as exporting the radioactive material outside the EU, for instance Russia.

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Austria should exit Euratom Treaty: Green party

Thursday, November 6, 2008

(VIENNA) - The Austrian Green party called Tuesday for Austria to quit the European Atomic Energy Community (Euroatom or EAEC), saying public money paid to the body could be better used elsewhere.

Austria, which is constitutionally opposed to nuclear energy, "must exit the Euroatom Treaty," Green party spokeswoman Eva Glawischnig said.

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IAEA nuclear leak did not reach environment: probe

Friday, August 29, 2008

VIENNA (Reuters) - A small amount of plutonium which leaked from an ageing International Atomic Energy Agency laboratory near Vienna did not reach the environment, according to an independent inquiry cited by the U.N. watchdog on Friday.

The August 3 incident at the Seibersdorf analytical lab, which occurred overnight and caused no injury, raised a stir in Austria, which hosts the IAEA but rejects nuclear energy itself as fundamentally dangerous.

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Plutonium leak contained at ageing IAEA laboratory

Monday, August 4, 2008

VIENNA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A small amount of plutonium leaked in an ageing International Atomic Energy Agency laboratory outside Vienna but radioactive contamination was contained to a storage area and no one was injured, the U.N. watchdog said. Last year the IAEA director warned that its main analytical lab built in 1970 was outmoded and no longer met U.N. safety standards, and he called for 27.2 million euros ($42.4 milion) in extra funding from member states to modernise it.

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Greenpeace protests against Erste Bank's financing of Slovakian nuclear plant

Thursday, March 6, 2008

VIENNA Thomson Financial - Greenpeace activists 'walled in' a branch of one of Austria's largest banks, Erste Bank AG, in the centre of Vienna on this morning in protest against its financing of the Mochovce nuclear plant in Slovakia.

A group of around thirty activists erected a brickwall in front of the bank's main entrance on one of the capital's busy pedestrian zones and called for Erste Bank to cancel its loan to the Slovak utility Slovenske Elektrarne.

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Austria threatens to veto green tech resolution

Friday, February 22, 2008

ENDS Europe DAILY 2489, 21/02/08

Austria is threatening to veto an EU resolution on a proposed plan to boost low-carbon technologies in Europe unless the bloc's 27 energy ministers agree nuclear research should not receive any extra EU funds, it emerged on Wednesday.

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European anti-nuclear ministers want alternatives to nuclear power

Monday, October 1, 2007

Vienna - High-ranking European government officials, representing anti-nuclear states Austria, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Italy, Luxembourg, and Latvia, called Monday for alternatives to a renaissance of nuclear energy.

The group met in Vienna on Sunday and Monday to forge a joint declaration against nuclear energy. At a press conference, the participating politicians called for more investment into energy efficiency measures and renewable energies.

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Fire in Czech nuclear station compound quickly put out

Monday, September 3, 2007

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - A fire broke out in an air-drying unit inside the Temelin nuclear station compound Tuesday afternoon, and was quickly put out by the station's staff, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The incident posed no danger to the plant's operation and safety, Temelin spokesman Marek Svitak said.

The fire was caused by the overheating of the components in an air-drying station about 1 kilometer (700 yards) outside the actual reactor building, Svitak said.

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Czech power utility CEZ filed court action against Upper Austria over Temelin nuclear plant

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

PRAGUE. JUNE 27. INTERFAX CENTRAL EUROPE - Prague and Warsaw-listed Czech power utility CEZ, which operates the controversial Temelin nuclear power plant, filed a complaint in a regional court earlier this month against Upper Austria for its efforts to bring Temelin's operations to a halt, Czech daily Lidove noviny (LN) reported Wednesday.

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Czechs yield to neighbours on Temelin EIA

Wednesday, December 13, 2000

The Czech Republic has agreed that its Temelin nuclear power plant will undergo a full environmental impact assessment (EIA) in line with EU requirements before fully coming on stream. Pressure for the change was exerted by the European Commission after vigorous allegations by neighbours Austria and Germany that the plant did not match western standards. The first of the power station's two 981 megawatt reactors has been running at test levels since 10 October.

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