LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - A water leak at Slovenia's Krsko nuclear plant threatened to overshadow European Union environment talks on Thursday, as Slovenia reassured there was no danger and fended off criticism of its handling of the case.
The accident at the plant tripped the EU's "Ecurie" early warning system on Wednesday afternoon, but some member states were initially informed that the incident was a drill.
LJUBLJANA, June 4 (Reuters) - Slovenia's only nuclear power plant was shut down on Wednesday because of a water leak but there was no impact on the environment and the situation was "fully under control", Slovenian and EU officials said.
"The plant was shut down and the leakage was located already. Now the plant will have to cool down for a day or so before the leakage can be repaired," Andrej Stritar, head of the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration, told Reuters.
Public polls push for return to atomic supply as fears of another Chernobyl fade
The prime ministers of Lithuania and Slovakia have criticised deals struck by their governments with the EU before they joined the bloc to shut down aging Soviet-era nuclear power plants. International
pressure to cut carbon emissions and rising oil prices had revealed the move to be a mistake, they said.
EUOBSERVER / FOCUS - Europe's top energy official has called for a fresh discussion of the pros and cons of nuclear energy "without taboos."
Energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs wrote on Friday (16 May) in his blog that "Use of nuclear energy ... would increase our energy independence and supply security as well as contribute to the limitation of CO2 emissions."
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Brussels has called on EU member states to end the six-year deadlock over one of Europe's touchiest topics and agree common nuclear safety rules as well as ways in which to store nuclear waste.
"It is an absolute necessity," EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs told EUobserver on Thursday (22 May), while blaming EU governments for a lack of political will to give Brussels a stronger say on the issue.
EDF, the French utility, could face a legal challenge over the technology it has decided to use in building Britain’s latest generation of power stations.
EDF announced last May that it planned to employ Areva, the French nuclear energy group, but its decision, which was made without giving rival reactor manufacturers an opportunity to bid for the contract, could be illegal under European law, according to Ros Kellaway, partner and head of EU competition law in Eversheds.
BRUSSELS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission and the UN nuclear watchdog on Wednesday signed a joint statement on enhanced cooperation in nuclear energy.
The purpose of the joint statement is to highlight the mutual will to further strengthen cooperation, emphasize the specific priority areas and provide for regular high-level meetings to facilitate this reinforced cooperation, said the commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU).
KIEV (AFP) — Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko Wednesday inaugurated a nuclear waste storage and processing centre in the contaminated zone around the Chernobyl nuclear station ahead of the catastrophe's 22nd anniversary, his press service said.
The centre's first module, constructed with the European Commission's aid, would be launched by the end of the year, Valentin Melnichenko, a project official, told AFP.
BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - The European Commission said it will examine ways to make investments in nuclear energy easier.
At the European Nuclear Assembly conference here, energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs stressed the importance of nuclear energy for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
