June, 2008

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has described her country's decision to close its nuclear plants as "absolutely wrong." The words were her most forthright to date.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has announced a major project to increase capacity at its Kobe shipyard, where it will double capacity for large nuclear power plant components. The firm wants to increase its share of the growing reactor market.

Cheryl Boggess was voted president of Women in Nuclear Global (WIN) by the organisation's general assembly during its annual meeting in Marseille, France at the end of May. She takes over from Junko Ogawa of Japan Atomic Power Company who had served the maximum of two two-year terms. Boggess described...

Figures from the IAEA show that nuclear power generation worldwide was 50 TWh lower in 2007 than in 2006, at 2608 TWh, mainly due to outages in three countries.

Zogby International has published the results of a public opinion poll in the USA which indicates that 67% of Americans support the construction of nuclear power plants, while 23% are opposed. Some 46% of respondents said that they strongly support the construction of new nuclear plants. With regards...

Energy ministers of leading industrialized countries met in Aomori, Japan at the weekend. Some statements from the group clearly endorsed nuclear power as a way to increase energy security and tackle climate change.

A leaky valve caused a minor incident at a nuclear power plant in Slovenia - and also caused widespread media interest after mistakenly causing the European Union's radiological incident warning system to be activated.

Russia announced that it had shut down the second of its three plutonium-producing reactors - the ADE-5 unit at Seversk - as part of a nuclear non-proliferation programme with the USA.

The world will face a bill in excess of $45 trillion to keep global temperature increases below 2.4°C - and would need to build 32 new nuclear power plants per year to help achieve it, says a new report from the International Energy Agency.

Russia's TVEL has signed a contract with Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant for the supply of uranium-gadolinium (U-Gd) fuel. TVEL said that use of the fuel should enable the Paks reactors to operate at a higher thermal power capacity, up to 108% (1485 MW). It added that the fuel would also reduce...

Fennovoima announced that it has completed technical preplanning at four potential locations in Finland for a new nuclear power plant and has decided to proceed to technical planning at three of them. In December 2007, the company said that it had narrowed its search down from a possible six municipalities...

[RIA Novosti, 30 May; Telegraph, 31 May] A gang has been arrested in Ukraine for planning to smuggle contaminated wood and scrap metal, including a helicopter, from the 18-mile exclusion zone surrounding the damaged Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In a statement, the country's security service reported...

The benefits of new nuclear reactor technology will outweigh any potential health detriments according to a formal Justification application submitted by the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) to the UK government on behalf of the country's nuclear energy industry.

[Dow Jones, 2 June] French oil company Total SA has confirmed that it is in discussions with Areva and Suez over possible participation in nuclear energy-related projects. Philippe Boisseau, Total's director general for gas and new energies, told journalists that the company is seeking to partner...

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted the second half of Unistar's combined construction and operating licence (COL) application for a new reactor at its Calvert Cliffs site for review. Separately, Detroit Edison has named GE-Hitachi's Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor as...

South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries has signed a contract with Westinghouse for the supply of major nuclear equipment for two AP1000 reactors in the USA. Meanwhile, the company is targeting the Chinese market and plans to raise its production capacities for castings and forgings.

The Krsko nuclear power plant in Slovenia was shut down on 4 June after a leak in the primary circuit was detected. The leak was found near the reactor coolant pump within the reactor containment structure. The leakage rate was some three cubic metres per hour, which the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration...

Belgian fuel cycle company Synatom is to invest C$9 million ($8.9 million) in Canada-based Powertech, securing rights to purchase uranium from Powertech should it go into production at its US uranium sites. The private placement agreement would see Synatom increase its holding in Powertech from a current...

[VNA, 4 June] Vietnam's National Assembly has passed legislation that encourages and creates favourable conditions for domestic and foreign organisations and individuals to research and invest in nuclear energy, the Vietnam News Agency reported. To implement a strategy on applying nuclear energy...

Canada's Cameco Corporation and Kazatomprom of Kazakhstan have announced the formation of a new joint-owned company, Ulba Conversion LLP, to move forward with development work on a 12,000 t uranium hexafluoride conversion facility in Kazakhstan.

Suez has agreed to acquire a 5% equity stake in Areva's new Georges Besse II uranium enrichment plant under construction at Tricastin, France.

The USA and Turkey have entered an agreement for cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The agreement was originally signed on 26 July 2000. In a statement, the US Department of State said that the agreement provides "a comprehensive framework for peaceful nuclear cooperation between...

The US Department of Energy has submitted a licence application for the construction of the country's first deep geologic repository for used nuclear fuel. The store is meant to operate from 2017, but its future would be in the hands of the next President.

The UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is seeking to appoint a number of suppliers to a framework agreement for the provision of technical support to its Nuclear Directorate (ND). In a procurement notice posted on its website the HSE said, "The support will be required to enable ND to complete...