Wylfa
Up to three new power stations in Anglesey could provide hundreds of construction jobs. Energy firm RWE nPower has revealed plans to build up to three new nuclear power stations in Anglesey, Wales.
Building 31st Dec 2008 more >>
France
The Flamanville plant is an important test for nuclear power as is another site at Olkiluoto in Finland, where a second European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), as France’s new design is called, is under construction. If all goes well, dozens of other countries will clone what the French have built. It is reassuring to know that Electricit de France (EDF), a state-owned electricity company, has operated a big fleet of nuclear power plants since the late 1970s without major incident. But this year there were a series of small safety hitches including leaks of uranium into local water supplies at a nuclear plant in the south called Tricastin Nuclear Power Centre. French people began questioning nuclear power (winemakers who fall under the appellation Coteaux du Tricastin are campaigning to change the name) with an intensity they had not previously shown.
Economist 1st Jan 2009 more >>
Finland
The Areva-Siemens consortium has filed a request for arbitration concerning the delay and related costs for Olkiluoto-3, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy, or TVO, said in a December 31 statement. TVO and Areva have already been discussing compensation for the project’s cost overruns and delays. Areva officials have said TVO should absorb some of the extra cost, but TVO management says the company will not do so. TVO said in October that startup of the unit is about three years behind schedule. The reactor was originally supposed to be online in May 2009, but the project has been dogged by problems.
Platts 31st Dec 2008 more >>
South Africa
Previously secret papers released at the National Archives show how James Callaghan, the Labour prime minister, was informed in August 1977 of a secret test site in the Kalahari Desert in a personal letter from Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet president.
Telegraph 31st Dec 2008 more >>
