Here’s something fun for your teens, or if you are a teen, you: Students in middle and high schools are encouraged to prepare a three to seven minute video (VHS or DVD) on positive aspects of the various forms of energy, including nuclear energy. The purpose of the video contest is to enhance students' researching and fact-finding skills, and to educate them on the various forms of energy that...

If nuclear energy is going to push forward to a true international renaissance, it’s not enough to apply for licenses and and clear some land for new plants. An entire infrastructure has to be exist to support them – now, of course, there is such an infrastructure, since plants have been puttering along for a long while and need replacement parts, a supply of uranium and so on. But a marked increase...

The government of Niger has granted French nuclear giant Areva a permit to mine the Imouraren uranium deposit in what will be the country's largest ever industrial project. Mining is due to begin in 2012.

A construction contract has been signed for a new nuclear power plant in the USA. The deal between Progress Energy and the Westinghouse and Shaw consortium is the third so far for the AP1000 design in the USA.

Lake Acquisitions Ltd - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Electricité de France (EdF) - announced that EdF's offer to acquire British Energy (BE) was now wholly unconditional. It said that by 5 January it had received valid acceptances for the ordinary offer and the convertible offer in respect of a total of 1,550,102,522 BE shares, representing in aggregate some 96.44% of the current issued share capital of BE. At the end of December, EdF's offer for BE was approved by European authorities, but both parties will have to divest power stations, and more land must be sold for new nuclear build. EdF has already announced plans to construct up to four 1600 MWe EPR reactors at existing BE sites. However, in an interview with the Financial Times , EdF CEO Pierre Gadonneix said, "If we want to meet the 2017 challenge for the first EPR, we must find ways to make the process as fluent as possible ... That will take time and that will cost." He also said that EdF was open to other companies taking stakes in its new nuclear power plants in the UK, along the lines of Enel of Italy's 12.5% stake in the new Flamanville EPR under construction in France. EdF is in talks with Centrica, owner of British Gas, to take a 25% stake in BE and Centrica has issued shares to raise the necessary cash.

A subsidiary of Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) has completed its acquisition of Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) - a provider of specialty nuclear fuels and related services - for an undisclosed sum.

[Yomuiri Shimbun, 6 January] Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) is preparing plans regarding test operation of its shutdown Kashiwazaki Kariwa 7 reactor for submission to the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety agency (Nisa). The reactor, a 1315 MWe boiling water model, has been out of action along with the other six units on site since the July 2007 Niigata offshore earthquake. All the reactors shut down safely on the tremors, but suffered widespread minor damage. Repairs and seismic reinforcement work were completed in March 2008, the newspaper said, and Tepco hopes trial operation will demonstrate it is safe to prepare for a full restart later this year.

Kirk Sorensen and Charles Barton are some of the world’s most vocal advocates of the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) concept. Together, they operate Energy from Thorium, one of the richest veins of energy knowledge available on the web. During our conversation, they provide a lot of food for thought with their detailed descriptions and historical [...] Read More...

Three old nuclear power reactors were shutdown worldwide during 2008, while no new units were started up. However, construction started on ten new power reactors, whilst power uprates of several existing plants helped bolster operating capacity.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that it had received nominations for two candidates to be its next director general. The deadline for submitting nominations had been 31 December. The government of Japan has nominated Yukiya Amano, while South Africa's government has nominated Abdul Samad Minty. Both Amano and Minty currently serve as governors to the IAEA board. The IAEA said that the two candidates were nominated in line with a process approved by the board in October 2008. In September, the IAEA announced that Mohamed ElBaradei, who has served as the director general since 1997, will not be available to serve a fourth term and that his term of office will expire on 30 November 2009. In order to be appointed, a candidate must secure a two-thirds vote in the 35-member IAEA board of governors. If a two-thirds majority is not achieved, the nomination process begins again. The IAEA board intends to make an appointment by June. The appointment will then be submitted for approval at the IAEA General Conference in September.

The row over delays at the Olkiluoto 3 new-build project has grown more serious after constructing consortium Areva-Siemens took their customer Teollisuuden Voima Oyj to arbitration. Meanwhile, the reactor's pressure vessel has arrived on site.

[Today's Zaman, 4 January] Turkish lawmakers have tabled legislation that specifies nuclear energy will only be used only for peaceful purposes. The bill foresees the establishment of a Turkish Nuclear Regulatory Board to independently oversee nuclear safety in the country. It also describes a Turkish Atomic Energy Commission, composed of representatives of government departments, in addition to the existing Turkish Atomic Energy Agency. The move follows the passing of legislation on the operation of nuclear power stations and the sale of their electricity in May 2007 and a tender for the construction of a nuclear power plant in September 2008. There was only one bidder: a consortium led by Russia's AtomStroyExport.

Google's acquisition of Feedburner is the reason For those of you who read posts on this blog with a feedreader such as FeedDemon or other RSS client, the code for the RSS feed has changed.  This is due to the purchase of Feedburner, which used to provide the RSS feed, by Google. You can click on any of the icons below to update your RSS feed. The first one with the universal orange icon for...

Legislatures are taking a strong role Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kentucky are three states which will are grappling with the issue of nuclear energy in 2009. In Missouri, the fate of AmerenUE's proposal for a new nuclear power plant will likely be decided by the state legislature this term. At issue is whether the utility can recover the cost of construction while it is building a new plant. In Oklahoma...

Challenges include a state ban and the lack of a mill on the east coast The prospects for uranium mining in Chatham, VA, may be  heating up. The impetus for the change comes from two key developments.  First, on Nov 6 the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission unanimously approved a study of the issue.  It could be the first step to lifting the state's long standing ban on uranium mining...