AMSTERDAM -(Dow Jones)- Dutch utility Delta NV said Monday it has shelved its plan to build a second nuclear plant in the Netherlands, in the latest example of waning appetite for atomic power in Europe.
Delta NV, which aimed to build the plant together with Germany's RWE AG, said the current market climate makes it no longer viable to move ahead with the project and that it will shelve its plans for two to three years.
AMSTERDAM (Dow Jones)--The Dutch Supreme Court Friday upheld an interim injunction that prevents German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) from obtaining a 50% stake in the only nuclear power plant in the Netherlands.
The ruling is a setback for RWE, which acquired Dutch utility Essent in 2009, but a final decision on whether RWE will eventually gain control of the stake in the Borssele reactor could still take years.
German utility RWE has indicated its interest in building a nuclear power plant in the Netherlands should a new government revoke the ban on such projects, RWE CEO Juergen Grossmann said at the company's annual earnings press conference Thursday in Essen.
"We are interested and we are competent," Grossmann said, when asked about the issue by a Dutch journalist.
High-level nuclear waste from across the European Union could be shipped to eastern Europe for burial in a central underground storage facility under plans being considered by EU member states.
The Times has learnt that the project, which comes amid a resurgence of interest in nuclear power, could be given the green light later this year by the European Commission. Ewoud Verhoef, deputy director of Covra, the agency responsible for the storage of the Netherlands´ nuclear waste, said: "The nuclear programme in Holland is small and the cost of building a geological repository is very high. We only have one nuclear reactor in the Netherlands so there would be big advantages to a shared solution."
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute said yesterday that it will probably bid again for a nuclear research reactor project pursued by the Netherlands in the second half of this year.
Institute director Yang Myeong-seung said, “We are actively considering re-entering the bid for PALLAS, a project on the construction of a nuclear research reactor in the Netherlands.”
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Radiation Worker Skin Overexposure |
On August 28, 2008, a production operator in the UltraTechnekow (UTK) lab at the Petten (the Netherlands) radiopharmaceutical production facility was contaminated with molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) on the skin of both hands, most significantly the right thumb. The contamination was discovered approximately 1.5 hours after shift started when employees monitor themselves for contamination before leaving the radiological zone for their regular scheduled break. Immediate decontamination and radiological surveys of the production area were initiated.
LONDON (Reuters) - German RWE, Europe's fifth-largest utility, will fight to take over Essent's stake in the Netherland's only nuclear power plant, disputing a claim by peer Delta that it should sell it on.
RWE does not have to comply with a demand by Dutch state-owned utility Delta to sell on the 50 percent stake of the Borssele nuclear power plant it is buying as part of its 8.2 billion euro ($11.6 billion) takeover of Essent, RWE finance director Rolf Pohlig said in an interview.
THE HAGUE (AFP) — A nuclear reactor in the Netherlands closed for safety reasons, causing cancer patients to face longer waits for diagnoses, is unlikely to be back in operation before late November, its owners said.
"Repair work will last in any case until the end of November, which means that the November irradiation cycle is cancelled," the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) said in a statement on Wednesday.
AMSTERDAM, Sept 11 (Reuters) - The Dutch government ruled out on Thursday any chance of Dutch utility Delta gaining permission to build the country's second nuclear power station during the current administration's term of office to 2011.
'The coalition government agreement is crystal clear. We will not make any decisions over the construction of new nuclear power stations,' Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer of the Labour party (PvdA) told Dutch radio station BNR.
A statement by the Socialists that nuclear power is not a taboo subject within the party could signal a parliamentary majority in favour of building new nuclear power plants in the Netherlands, reports Wednesday’s Telegraaf.
‘Everything is open to discussion. Nuclear power is not taboo for the SP,’ Socialist party (SP) leader Agnes Kant is quoted by the paper as saying.
