Former Senator John Edwards and his co-counsel implored a federal judge Wednesday not to dismiss claims from U.S. service members who say they were exposed to radiation while aboard U.S. ships sent to render aid after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima, Japan. “We have 500 sailors who are badly hurt and some of them are dead. We have not been able to ask them a single question under oath … at the end of the day these folks just want their day in court,” Edwards told U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino. But Sammartino said at the beginning of the nearly three-hour court hearing she was inclined to dimiss the claims against Tokyo Electric Power Co. – or TEPCO – and General Electric for lack of personal jurisdiction.

Courthouse News 14th Nov 2018 read more »

France aims to reduce the share of electricity produced by nuclear reactors to 50 percent from 75 percent now by 2035, Environment Minister Francois de Rugy said on Sunday. The French government has long outlined plans to shrink the country’s reliance on nuclear energy to 50 percent, though the deadline for that goal had remained less clear. A long-awaited government update on France’s long-term energy strategy is expected to be released later this month, setting out in greater detail how it will cut the share of nuclear in its power generation.

Reuters 18th Nov 2018 read more »

The signing of the agreement Ukraine-the United States on nuclear safety will provide America the opportunity to sell the Ukrainians their nuclear fuel. That is one of the main goals of this agreement is commercial.

Silver Post 17th Nov 2018 read more »

The independent board that provides safety oversight at the nation’s nuclear weapons labs has “recently underperformed in its essential mission,” even as a massive plan to overhaul the country’s nuclear arsenal makes the board’s job “as important today as it has ever been.”

Albuquerque Journal 17th Nov 2018 read more »

One protester has died and more than 200 were injured as more than a quarter of a million people took to the streets of France, angry at rising fuel prices. The female protester who died was struck after a driver surrounded by demonstrators panicked and accelerated. The “yellow vests”, so-called after the high-visibility jackets they are required to carry in their cars, blocked motorways and roundabouts.

BBC 17th Nov 2018 read more »

Spain will close the last of its nuclear reactors and coal power plants before 2030, according to State Secretary for Energy José Dominguez, who made the announcement shortly after Madrid pledged to work towards a completely renewable electricity system. Dominguez said on Thursday (15 November) that the current socialist government does not plan to extend the lifespan of any of its nuclear reactors beyond their current 40-year shelf-life. Spain’s oldest reactor is more than 37 years old, so according to current plans will shut up shop in 2021, while its newest just celebrated its third decade of operation, and will go offline in 2028.

Euractiv 15th Nov 2018 read more »

Guaranteeing Belgium’s energy supply for the first two months of next year will be “tight”, admits Philippe Van Troeye, the CEO of Engie Electrabel and Engie Benel. L’Echo published an interview with him on Saturday. Mr Van Troeye said his company is taking its responsibilities seriously. “I haven’t resigned myself to the idea that there will be power cuts just yet”, he said. “It will be tight in January and February. But it was also tight in November, with just one reactor in operation. Still, we coped. January and February will be colder months, with access to imports less certain”, the Engie CEO said. He has assured the public he is taking his responsibilities seriously. “First off, we are mobilising our teams to get the reactors back on the network progressively. Second, we will get additional facilities in place, such as cogeneration plants and the plant in Vilvorde which was no longer in service. We have also asked our big industrial clients to be more flexible with their demand”, says Mr Van Troeye. He said a total of 1,000 extra megawatts will be made available, “which is equivalent to another reactor”.

Brussels Times 18th Nov 2018 read more »

Serhii Plokhy, who on Wednesday won the Baillie Gifford non-fiction prize for Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy, always intended to write about the world’s worst nuclear disaster, not least because he lived through it. “I was there at the time,” he says of his days as a young university lecturer living 500km downstream from the explosion at the Ukrainian nuclear plant in 1986 that contaminated vast swaths of Europe, worrying if the waters of the Dnieper River had been contaminated. “I remember the horror.”

Guardian 16th Nov 2018 read more »

Similar incentives to those used over the last decade to help deploy renewable technologies in the USA could lead to a strong return on investment if used for the deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs), a new report prepared for the US Department of Energy (DOE) has found.

World Nuclear News 16th Nov 2018 read more »

Orano has been contracted to carry out preparatory work for the transport of 731 used fuel assemblies from the Fugen experimental Advanced Thermal Reactor (ATR) in Japan to France for reprocessing. Fugen was a 165 MWe heavy water moderated, boiling light water cooled reactor of the pressure tube type. It was fuelled solely with mixed oxide (MOX) uranium and plutonium fuel. The reactor – at Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture – entered commercial operation in March 1979 and was shut down in March 2003. The reactor’s decommissioning programme was approved in February 2008.

World Nuclear News 16th Nov 2018 read more »