Eastern European projects gather momentum

10 May 2012

Lithuania's government has approved the draft concession agreement for the planned Visaginas nuclear power plant as part of major legislation on strategic energy projects, while Czech power company CEZ confirms it is looking for a strategic partner for Temelin.

Lithuania's energy ministry signed the Visaginas concession agreement with strategic investor Hitachi in March. Now that it has received government approval, the 120-page agreement setting out the contractual framework for the project to build a 1350 MWe advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) has been made public.

Meanwhile, CEZ has announced that it is considering completing the Temelin nuclear power plant through a strategic partnership, and intends to select a partner through a "transparent tender". Any partnership is likely to be formed after contracts have been signed with a selected supplier for the plant, which is expected to take place in 2013.

Ghana coordinates nuclear planning activities

17 May 2012

Ghana is moving ahead with its plans to introduce nuclear energy into its energy mix. The government recently established an organization to coordinate the activities of all stakeholder institutions involved in the planning of the nuclear power plant project.

Rolls-Royce technology for AECL

17 May 2012

NRU (AECL)_48Rolls-Royce has completed the delivery of the final components of a multimillion dollar technology package for use at AECL's Chalk River site.

Westinghouse in Chinese crane joint venture

16 May 2012

Polar crane for Sanmen 1 72x48Westinghouse subsidiary PaR Nuclear has agreed to form a joint venture with China's Taiyuan Heavy Machinery to produce cranes and fuel handling equipment for Chinese nuclear power plants, particularly those based on the AP1000 reactor.

New French ministers assembled

17 May 2012

Francois Hollande investiture, 15 May 86x48France's new Council of Ministers has been announced, following the investiture of President Francois Hollande.

 

Low-dose study finds no effects

16 May 2012

Mice exposed to low-dose radiation for an extended period showed no signs of DNA damage, said a study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that challenges existing radiation guidelines.

Tails deal gives Paducah another year

16 May 2012

Columbia Generating Station (Energy Northwest)_48Newly finalised plans to transfer US Department of Energy (DoE) depleted uranium into the civil nuclear fuel cycle for re-enrichment will see the Paducah enrichment plant continue to operate for an extra year.

Industry Talk

Metropolis in planned shutdown

Honeywell's Metropolis uranium conversion plant has entered its annual maintenance shutdown a few days earlier than planned to allow for thorough inspection of damaged equipment. The slight extension to the planned outage is not expected to lead to any delivery issues for the USA's only such facility. 

EIA process starts for BN-1200

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the construction and operation of Russia’s first BN-1200 fast neutron reactor has begun, Rosatom announced. The reactor would be built as the fifth unit at the Beloyarsk plant in Sverdlovsk Region, where a smaller BN-800 fast reactor is already under construction and an even smaller BN-350 unit has been in operation since 1981. OKBM Afrikantov expects to complete the engineering design of the BN-1200 in 2014.

Town approves Japanese restart

The town assembly of Ohi in Fukui prefecture has approved the restart of Kansai's Ohi 3 and 4. Nuclear regulators have endorsed the results of the units' stress tests and the government has already voiced its approval, but the plant needs approval at the local level before it can restart. Ohi mayor Shinobu Tokioka has indicated that his final decision on a restart will take into account the opinions of the assembly and the findings of an expert panel set up by the prefectural government.

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