[Canwest News Service, 7 May] The Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan are competing to house western Canada's first nuclear power plant, Saskatchewan's minister of natural resources said. Speaking at a meeting of energy regulators in Calgary, Bill Boyd said: "We have had early, very preliminary discussions with Bruce Power about the potential in Saskatchewan." He added that Bruce Power has "indicated to us, as well, that the site selection might be more appropriate in our province, so we are interested in that and are looking at it." Boyd said that Saskatchewan, which produces about one third of the world's uranium, would welcome the investment in a nuclear power plant. He said, "We are comfortable with the science and we certainly believe it is something we want to take a look at." Noting Saskatchewan's extensive uranium resources, Boyd commented, "it certainly makes sense for us to take a look at the next stages of development, upgrading, refining and through to generation." He suggested that Alberta and Saskatchewan could pursue one project, located in Saskatchewan, which might be "complementary to both jurisdictions." Bruce Power has already identified Peace River in Alberta as a potential site for a nuclear power plant. 

The Volgodonsk nuclear power plant has hosted the All-Russia Hand-To-Hand Combat Tournament for the third time. The two-day event attracted competitors from 23 Russian regions. Of the 107 fighters present, 12 were acknowledged as masters of the sport. Competitors from five nuclear power plants - Kola, Leningrad, Beloyarsk, Kursk and Volgodonsk - took part in the competition. Russia's overarching nuclear coordinating corporation, Rosatom, said that nuclear plants are "specific facilities requiring enhanced protection and guarded by strong and well-trained men." While representatives from the nuclear power plants won medals in the various weight groups, the team from the Volgodonsk plant were named the third-best team of fighters, after the team from the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the team from the Volgograd region. Among the nuclear plants, Volgodonsk was best, followed by Kursk and Leningrad. The director of the Volgodonsk plant, Alexander Palamarchuk, presented medals to the winners and invited the fighters to come again next year. In last year's competition the Volgodonsk plant came second, ahead of Volgodonsk region but behind the Moscow branch of the Federal Security Service.

[Bloomberg, 6 May; Hindustan Times, 7 May] India's federal ruling coalition and its communist allies failed to break the deadlock on the stalled civilian nuclear agreement with the US as their eighth meeting ended inconclusively on 6 May. In the meeting, the coalition and communist allies discussed the outcome of the negotiations between the government and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on India-specific safeguards. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "The Left parties have sought further clarifications, which will be provided in the next few days." He added that, "Further discussion will be held at the next meeting of the committee to be held on 28 May." India's communist parties have been vociferous in their opposition to the bilateral agreement on the grounds that its conditions would give the USA influence over Indian foreign policy, and had threatened to withdraw their support from the coalition government if it were to proceed. "In terms of India, the issue is with Indian politics and the Indian government working on their end to try to resolve any issues they may have," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters when asked if the deal was "just dead or is moving forward."