Nuclear News: EDF power price curb could hit UK nuclear reactor plans
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Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:
London Times: EDF power price curb could hit UK nuclear reactor plans
’Nuclear reactors that are essential for Britain’s future energy needs are in jeopardy, according to analysts, because EDF will not be able to afford to build them. Pierre Gadonneix, chief executive of EDF, wants electricity prices to be increased by 20 per cent over three to four years to fund investments. Last week, however, the French Government proposed a 2.3 per cent average increase in electricity prices on regulated tariffs over the next three years. EDF’s four proposed British nuclear reactors, including Hinkley Point, Somerset, where work is due to start in 2013, could become casualties of the decision. Peter Wirtz, European utilities analyst at West LB in Frankfurt, said: ‘If EDF cannot finance its investment programme they will have to think about cutting back some of their plans.’
World Latest News: India, Russia to discuss Kudankulam nuclear project Tuesday
’Chennai, Aug 9, The loading of fuel for the first unit of the 2,000-MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu will be the main agenda at the joint coordination committee meeting of the Nuclear Power Corp of India (NPCIL) and Russian agency AtomStroyExport, beginning Tuesday. ‘The committee will review the project’s progress. The first unit is expected to generate power early next year and the second is expected to go critical after that,’ NPCIL’s chairman and managing director S.K.Jain told IANS. Fuel for the first unit came from Russia early 2008 and that for the second is expected soon. NPCIL is building the mega project at Kudankulam, also India’s first 1,000 MW reactor, by importing light water reactors from Russia. Russia will supply four more such reactors, with two being located in
Kudankulam. Jain said the negotiations for the purchase were on.’
North West Evening Mail: Sellafield's rejected Mox fuel to be reprocessed in France
’IN one of Sellafield’s darkest hours, a whistleblower revealed bored workers failed to carry out a visual check on part of a mixed oxide (Mox) fuel assembly, then falsified documents to cover up their tracks. The 1999 scandal saw Sellafield’s chief executive resign and five workers sacked. The shipment of eight Mox fuel assemblies left Barrow for Japan in a blaze of protest from anti-nuclear campaigners. The Mox, made from recycled plutonium and uranium for Japanese power stations, was supposed to be the first of many orders. A whistleblower told a national newspaper that a relatively minor visual check on the small metal fuel pellets, that are stacked in rods to make up the Mox fuel assemblies, had been skipped and then falsified in paperwork by bored workers. Japan told British Nuclear Fuel Limited, Sellafield’s owner at the time, it had lost confidence in the English plant and would not accept the fuel.’
AFP: Niger opposition vows to fight 'dictatorship'
’NIAMEY - Niger's opposition on Saturday rejected a new constitution that paves the way for President Mamadou Tandja to potentially rule for life and pledged to fight what it termed a "dictatorship". "We are going to continue to defend the constitution of August 9, 1999, that the people of Niger have shown their attachment to by rejecting the new one proposed by President Tandja," said opposition leader Mamadou Issoufou. "We are going to resist and fight against this coup d'etat enacted by President Tandja and against his aim of installing a dictatorship in our country," Issoufou said.It was the first opposition reaction to the contested referendum, forced by Tandja in the uranium-rich west African nation. Issoufou, an outspoken opponent of Tandja's regime, is also a member of the umbrella opposition coalition, the Forces for the Coordination of Democratic Forces for the Republic (CFDR).’
ABC News: US, N Korea nuclear talks back on the table
’The US says it is prepared to hold direct talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons, but only if it returns to the six-party process. North Korea has so far resisted coming back to the negotiating table. Former US president Bill Clinton's surprise meeting with North Korea's President Kim Jong Il has raised expectations the communist state might resume disarmament talks. US national security adviser Jim Jones says the isolated country has indicated it wants to improve relations with the US.’
Durango Herald: Town ceases to exist after Superfund cleanup
’The town still appears on official Colorado maps. But 15 miles north of Naturita, there's no sign on the road and few clues this once was a hopping town with a community center, a soda fountain and a swimming pool. The childhood memories of many residents of Nucla and Naturita were made here. All that's left now is a flat spot on the ground surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, overflown by sparrows and serenaded by crickets. The only clue to the labors of the men and women who used to live here is the barbed wire that surrounds the whole site and the metal signs with the universal symbol for radiation, reading: "ANY AREA OR CONTAINER ON THIS PROPERTY MAY CONTAIN RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS."
