August, 2008

Tennessee Valley Authority has requested the reinstatement of construction permits for two unfinished reactors at its Bellefonte site in Alabama. It continues to pursue regulatory approval for two further units at the site.

A fishing tournament organized by the Trade Union and the Youth Organization of Russia's Kursk nuclear power plant was dedicated to the memory of the former director of the plant, Vladimir Gusarov. Current and past employees of the plant were among the 77 competitors who cleaned up the shore of the...

Areva says it will be investing a total of €20 million ($29.6 million) to improve environmental and health monitoring on its Tricastin site and to "settle the balance of its industrial legacy."

A medical and industrial isotope production factory in Belgium has been shut down after an unusual release of one of its products, iodine-131, through its chimney stack. Workers at the plant are unhurt, but local residents have been advised not to eat vegetables from their gardens.

[Telegraph, 28 August] The UK's business secretary, John Hutton, has said that he wants a deal between British Energy (BE) and Electricité de France (EdF) to be agreed within the next two weeks. An offer by EdF was rejected by major BE shareholders in July for being too low. He said, "It's...

An agreement on uranium exploration and mining signed by the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission and French nuclear company Areva has been welcomed by the countries' leaders.

The operating schedules of five research reactors have caused a certain amount of alarm in the nuclear medicine community. It was about nine months ago that a problem at Canada's main production reactor led to the cancellation of thousands of procedures.

A new company has been formed to smooth out the lumps and bumps in nuclear fuel supply market. Accord Nuclear Resources will be backed by the First Reserve private equity group and intends to operate fuel cycle facilities in the near term.

Westinghouse and Shaw have signed a letter of intent to create a joint venture for the fabrication and assembly of modules for AP1000 nuclear power plants. Meanwhile, Toshiba is seeking to strengthen its ties with IHI and Doosan.

Russia's Rosatom has given approval for construction of the 2400 MWe Baltic nuclear power plant in Kaliningrad, the separate part of Russia west of the Baltic States.

Australia's Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union thinks residents of Queensland would rather work in a coal mine than a nuclear power plant. The union's mining division has begun an advertising campaign featuring glum-looking miners and the slogan, "Nuclear power will kill the coal...

The worker at the centre of the most serious nuclear safety incident of recent years was found guilty yesterday of concealing information from safety regulators. He could now face five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

[Reuters, 26 August] Spain's nuclear safety regulator, the Nuclear Safety Council ( Consejo De Seguridad Nuclear , CSN) has called for a meeting of the country's nuclear power plant operators following a series of incidents. On Monday, the Garona plant was taken offline following an error in...

Slovakian utility Slovenske Elektrarne (SE) has launched a tender for the construction of two new reactors at the Mochovce nuclear power plant.

The Beijing Olympics may be over, but Kazakh uranium industry workers are now holding their own mini-Olympics. KazAtomProm announced that its 8th Annual Sports Contest began on 25 August, with almost 1000 workers from the Kazakh uranium industry competing over the next five days at Almaty's Central...

Last week's talks at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) were adjourned leaving a second meeting in early September key to the Indian nuclear trade initiative. Several nations raised objections to US proposals, but these are expected to be resolved in coming days.

Canadian uranium giant Cameco has taken a stake in a company exploring for the mineral in Niger, marking its first foray in the country. The strategic alliance could see Cameco invest up to $212 million.

A deal worth C$253 million ($242 million) was announced today towards the demonstration Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). It is hoped the unit could begin operation in 2014.

Nuclear sites are often havens for wildlife, but Britain's Sellafield proved too popular recently when a swarm of 40,000 bees descended on its Waste Encapsulation Plant. The main entrance near where the bees had gathered was immediately closed, and pest control specialists were summoned to neutralise...

Recent weeks have seen two unwanted outages at South Africa's Koeberg nuclear power plant. The effects on the fine balance of supply and demand would be unwelcome as owner Eskom struggles to maintain nuclear build plans.

Areva and the University of Idaho have signed an agreement to develop technology - similar to the process used for removing caffeine from coffee beans - for recovering uranium from incinerator ash from Areva's uranium fuel plant in Richland, Washington state.

The first visual inspection of the damaged areas of the Windscale 1 reactor core has been carried out, 50 years since a fire ruined the military unit. The extra data should help in dismantling the unit more quickly.

Jordan and China have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, particularly electricity generation and water desalination.

Hydro-Quebec will invest some C$1.9 billion ($1.8 billion) to refurbish the Canadian province's sole operating nuclear power reactor, Gentilly 2, thereby extending the unit's operating life to about 2040. The project will also involve the construction of a new waste store.

American nuclear safety regulators said that 2007 saw the lowest ever collective radiation dose to the country's nuclear workers. Regulators said they wanted to keep up the downward trend.