US and French Companies link up to operate new nuclear plants in US and Canada
The French giant EdF has linked up with the US's Constellation Energy to form "Unistar Nuclear Energy". UNE plan to develop, own and operate a fleet of reactors, based round Areva's EPR design, the first of which is currently under construction in Finland. Constellation has already teamed up with Areva to form the Unistar parent company. Similar reactors are also planned for China and France. Those participating in the build of EPRs are hoping to keep down costs by using a standard design.
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New ships for nuclear transport company
PNTL, the company that carries used nuclear fuel from Japan to Europe for reprocessing – and the waste back – has ordered two new ships. The ships come with double hulls and are manned by two crews .
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UK and DR Congo sign agreement to stop illegal uranium smuggling
A UK mining firm has joined forces with the government of Congo to implement measures meant to stop the illegal smuggling of uranium. It has previously been reported http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/industry/080307-Uranium_smuggling_allegation_in_Congo.shtml that senior figures were involved in smuggling, so this move should be welcomed.
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Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Friday, 20 July 2007
Group set up to study nuclear safety
A high level group has been set up by the European Commission to look at radioactive waste management and nuclear safety. The group will be made up of representatives of European countries with nuclear facilities and those which don't use nuclear power. This way, the Commission say, there wil be confidence in the conclusions of the group. The EC Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, said the group will reinforce the safety of nuclear installations.
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US to increase funding to secure Russian military materials
The US government has almost doubled the amount of money it is investing in programmes to improve security at Russia nuclear weapons complexes. The US have been working at sites of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency to help secure nuclear materials from the cold war.
Collaboration in the past between Russia and the US has resulted in Russian uranium from military programmes being downblended and sent to be used in US nuclear power stations. Recently, around 10% of the electricity in the US was generated from uranium sent from Russia.
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Collaboration in the past between Russia and the US has resulted in Russian uranium from military programmes being downblended and sent to be used in US nuclear power stations. Recently, around 10% of the electricity in the US was generated from uranium sent from Russia.
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Thursday, 19 July 2007
Russian-built reactor operates at full power in China
The Tianwan 2 nuclear reactor, built by Russia in China, operated at full power for five days in mid-July. The plant is due to enter full commercial service in a few months. The Russians have already built one reactor at the Tianwan site and they have contracts to build two more soon.
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The Japanese earthquake story continues to be updated.
TEPCO ups report of impact of earthquake on its reactor
The Japanese company TEPCO has revised upwards its estimates of the impact of the recent earthquake in Japan on one of its reactors. It is now saying that 400, not 100, drums of low level waste overturned and that the amount of very weakly radioactive water that leaked into the sea was 50% higher than recent estimates.
However, before worrying about the leak it should be noted that the water that leaked was only two and a half times more radioactive than regular Bordeaux wine!
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The Japanese company TEPCO has revised upwards its estimates of the impact of the recent earthquake in Japan on one of its reactors. It is now saying that 400, not 100, drums of low level waste overturned and that the amount of very weakly radioactive water that leaked into the sea was 50% higher than recent estimates.
However, before worrying about the leak it should be noted that the water that leaked was only two and a half times more radioactive than regular Bordeaux wine!
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Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Firefighter uses water from old uranium mine
A pilot collecting water to fight a fire in Washington State, USA scooped water out of a pond used at a now-closed uranium mine. The pilot collected the water in a large bucket suspended below his helicopter and deposited it over a large area of burning woodland. Thankfully neither the water nor the bucket was found to have any radioactive contamination.
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Nuclear facility in Iran to be inspected
The International Atomic Energy Authority says that it is going to visit the Arak heavy water reactor in Iran. The reactor, due to be completed in 2009, is called a research reactor by the Iranians, although heavy water reactors can be used to breed plutonium from uranium. The IAEA inspectors should visit the site of the reactor by the end of July 2007
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