EDF may buy UK nuclear company after all
BBC: Two weeks after the collapse of a £12bn takeover by the French state-controlled nuclear giant EDF, British Energy has revealed that it is still engaged in talks.
August 23, 2008US Russian nuclear proliferation act stallsWall Street Journal: The Bush administration's landmark nuclear-cooperation agreement with Russia is unlikely to gain passage before President George W. Bush leaves office, the latest sign of how Russia's offensive in Georgia has roiled the international scene. August 21, 2008U.S. Push to Expand India's Nuclear Trade Draws SkepticismThe Washington Post: A Bush administration proposal to exempt India from restriction on nuclear trade has aroused skepticism from several members of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, diplomats said yesterday, making it increasingly unlikely that a deal will be reached in two-day meetings that begin today in Vienna. August 18, 2008Hot job market for nuclear engineeringUS News and World Report: "Nuclear Help Desperately Wanted" could be the sign in front of dozens of engineering colleges across the country. With worldwide interest in nuclear energy and technology skyrocketing, engineers with a nuclear background are feeling very popular these days. It's welcome news for a field that has been long stifled by negative public opinion. The challenge the discipline faces is how to meet this new demand after years of shrinking interest. August 13, 2008Saudi government to ratify tougher IAEA nuclear safeguards agreementThe Jerusalem Post: The Saudi Arabian cabinet has decided to approve the country's agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the protocols and application of safeguards under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Saudi newspaper Arab News reported. August 8, 2008Nuclear utilities win appeal over radioactive-waste facilityWall Street Journal: In the latest development of a longstanding contract dispute, a federal appeals court reversed and remanded a trio of cases concerning damages owed to nuclear utilities as a result of the government's failure to build a nuclear-waste facility. August 5, 2008Nuclear power push in UK stalled as EDF buyout falls throughThe Register: The British government plan to build a new generation of nuclear power stations is on hold, after French energy giant EDF's bid to buy the UK's existing nuclear industry was rejected at the last moment. Reports have it that the deal fell through after existing shareholders in British Energy - thought to be large UK pension funds - demanded more than EDF was willing to pay. The £12 billion acquisition had been seen for some time as a done deal, with the full approval of the government. EDF, which is a major player in the mostly-nuclear French electricity market, was to take over British Energy not so much for its existing plants or expertise, but in order to acquire its nuclear sites. This would avoid much of the red tape, protests and legal disputes that would result from breaking of new ground, and EDF with its French experience would have little difficulty in doing the building. Now, however, the deal - a vital precursor to the entire plan - appears to have foundered. July 29, 2008Low priority for new reactors designsWorld Nuclear News: Small advanced reactors offer enormous potential to extend the reach of nuclear power - but safety regulators in some leading nuclear nations are too busy to approve the designs. July 24, 2008EDF in talks to take over British EnergyThe Guardian: The French electricity group EDF is ready to unveil a £12bn deal for the takeover of the UK's nuclear power generator British Energy as early as next week. An agreement - widely expected by those close to the talks - will raise questions about a French takeover of the sector after the French group Areva this month became preferred bidder with two others to takeover management of the Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria. British Energy is attractive to EDF because the sites could be used to build a new generation of nuclear stations. July 23, 2008UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in chaos says reportThe Guardian: An internal audit undertaken by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has found significant financial risk that were exacerbated by misunderstandings, unminuted meetings and lack of sufficiently trained staff which has led to embarrassing cost overruns that forced the department to find £400m worth of emergency funds from other budgets to balance the books. July 14, 2008UK to set no limit on number of new nuclear reactorsThe Independent: Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to fast-track the building of at least eight nuclear power stations to cut Britain's dependence on oil following the dramatic rise in its price. Brown is quoted in a speech at the "Union for the Mediterranean" summit in Paris as saying there will be "no upper limit" on the number of nuclear plants that will be built by private companies. This would mean, despite the decommissioning of nearly all the UK's current reactors over the next 15 years, that nuclear power, which currently provides about 20 per cent of Britain's electricity, could meet a bigger share. The location for the first batch of new nuclear power plants will be announced in 2010. The speech outlined the UK's vision of a "post-oil economy", calling for "a renaissance of nuclear power" and "massive expansion" of renewable energy in which the North Sea becomes "a vital energy resource through harnessing wind power. Related Physics Today article July 9, 2008UK nuclear industry undermined by savage science cutsDaily Telegraph: Cuts of up to 40 per cent in grants to scientists have been announced, triggering a warning they could undermine the nation’s ability to build and decommission nuclear power plants. July 1, 2008Plutonium pit plan for LANL faces oppositionAssociated Press: The market at the heart of this little village is stuffed with locally grown produce. Fat, red radishes practically fly out of the display basket next to the cash register hours after leaving the field. June 26, 2008North Korea takes steps to abandon its nuclear weapons programThe Economist: The North Korean government prepares to blow up a cooling tower at its nuclear reactor June 18, 2008The case for Yucca mountain revisitedScience: In papers published over a quarter of a century ago Isaac J. Winograd and Eugene H. Roseboom Jr discussed the assets and liabilities of burying high level radioactive waste (HLW) in areas with deep water tables, specifically within the several-hundred-meter-thick unsaturated zones common to the arid and semiarid Southwest U.S.A. This idea which was taken by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission eventually led to the proposal of using Yucca Mountain as a potential repository for HLWs. In the ensuing decades, a voluminous body of knowledge of the geology, hydrology, geochemistry, and paleoclimatology of YM and the surrounding southern Great Basin was acquired and documented in hundreds of studies by federal, state, university, and industry scientists. As a result of these efforts, Yucca mountain remains controversial for storage of HLWs. Winograd and Roseboom examine several reasons for this outcome, two of which would apply to any site being considered for the geologic isolation of HLWs, and suggest a potential way to move beyond the controversy. June 13, 2008Bush official defends Russia nuclear dealThe Associated Press: A Bush administration official was seeking to convince skeptical lawmakers Thursday that a U.S.-Russian agreement on civilian nuclear power would not undermine efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program. June 12, 2008Japan firms raided in North Korean nuclear smuggling rowBBC: Police in Japan have raided two companies after vacuum pumps they manufactured and sold were found in a North Korean nuclear facility. June 6, 2008Software update shuts US nuclear power plantWashington Post: A nuclear power plant in Georgia was recently forced into an emergency shutdown for 48 hours after a software update was installed on a single computer. The incident occurred on March 7 at Unit 2 of the Hatch nuclear power plant near Baxley, Georgia. The trouble started after an engineer from Southern Company, which manages the technology operations for the plant, installed a software update on a computer operating on the plant's business network. The computer in question was used to monitor chemical and diagnostic data from one of the facility's primary control systems, and the software update was designed to synchronize data on both systems. According to a report filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, when the updated computer rebooted, it reset the data on the control system, causing safety systems to errantly interpret the lack of data as a drop in water reservoirs that cool the plant's radioactive nuclear fuel rods. As a result, automated safety systems at the plant triggered a shutdown. June 4, 2008Collapse of US India nuclear deal worries India's nuclear companies
Bush administration files application to open Yucca mountain to nuclear wasteThe Associated Press: Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday he's confident the government's license application to build a nuclear waste dump in Nevada will "stand up to any challenge anywhere." June 2, 2008Dutch to weigh up benefits of nuclear power
Ft.com: The Netherlands has added its name to the growing list of European countries that might build nuclear power stations to help meet their greenhouse gas targets.
Maria van der Hoeven, Dutch economics minister, said she could not envisage a nuclear-free future if the government was to meet its CO 2 targets. "We are very gas dependent and we have to do something about it," she said. "In my opinion it will be very difficult to achieve a clean energy household in 2050 without nuclear energy." She is due to present a report to parliament next month outlining Dutch energy options. Robots scour sea for atomic waste
The Observer: Robot submarines are to be used to sweep particles of plutonium and other radioactive materials from the seabed near one of Britain's biggest nuclear plants in one of the most delicate clean-up operations ever in this country.
Each submersible will be fitted with a Geiger counter and will crisscross the sea floor to pinpoint every deadly speck close to Dounreay on Scotland's north coast before lifting each particle and returning it to land for safe storage. May 29, 2008Iran's nuclear program is feeding proliferation says report
Associated Press: Iran's disputed nuclear program has sent a wave of interest in atomic energy across the Middle East, a think tank said Tuesday, warning that it risked setting the scene for a regional nuclear arms race.
At least 13 Middle Eastern countries either announced new plans to explore atomic energy or revived pre-existing nuclear programs between February 2006 and January 2007, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, or IISS, said in a report. While the flurry of interest in nuclear power is still tentative, the report said countries such as Saudi Arabia, Algeria or Egypt could soon feel the need to match Iran's nuclear ambitions. ''If Tehran's nuclear program is unchecked, there is reason for concern that it could in time prompt a regional cascade of proliferation among Iran's neighbors,'' it said. May 28, 2008Italy joins growing list of European countries resuming nuclear energy programs
New York Times: Italy announced last Thursday that within five years it planned to resume building nuclear energy plants, two decades after a public referendum resoundingly banned nuclear power and deactivated all its reactors.
“By the end of this legislature, we will put down the foundation stone for the construction in our country of a group of new-generation nuclear plants,” said Claudio Scajola, minister of economic development. “An action plan to go back to nuclear power cannot be delayed anymore.” The change is a striking sign of the times, reflecting growing concern in many European countries over the skyrocketing price of oil and energy security, and the warming effects of carbon emissions from fossil fuels. All have combined to make this once-scorned form of energy far more palatable. “Italy has had the most dramatic, the most public turnaround, but the sentiments against nuclear are reversing very quickly all across Europe — Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Germany and more,” said Ian Hore-Lacey, spokesman for the World Nuclear Association, an industry group based in London. The rehabilitation of nuclear power was underscored in January when John Hutton, the British business secretary, grouped it with “other low-carbon sources of energy” like biofuels. It was barely mentioned in the government action plan on energy three years earlier. May 19, 2008Spy satellites monitor China's nuclear weapon sites for earthquake damage
International Herald Tribune: China's main centers for designing, making and storing nuclear arms lie in the shattered earthquake zone, leading Western experts to look for signs of any damage that might allow radioactivity to escape.
A senior federal official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the issue, said the United States was using spy satellites and other means to try to monitor the sprawling nuclear plants. "There appear to be no immediate concerns," the official said. Nonetheless, "it's potentially a serious issue," Hans Kristensen, a nuclear arms expert at the Federation of American Scientists, a private group in Washington, said in an interview. "Radioactive materials could be released if there's damage." China began building the plants in the 1960s, calculating that their remote locations would make them less vulnerable to enemy attack. Associated Press reporter Anita Chang also writes in the Washington Post that China's nuclear safety agency had ordered staffers to be prepared for an environmental emergency the day after the earthquake. Aftershocks are still occurring in the region, some of which are up to magnitude 7.5. According to the French government, China's civilian nuclear facilities suffered only minor damage during the quake. Update 5/27/2008 According to the China Daily, an aftershock on Sunday that was 6.4 on the Richter scale destroyed 71,000 more homes and killed 6 people. The current death toll from the initial earthquake has topped 50,000. Related News Pick The Chengdu Earthquake |
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