Tag: nuclear energy

Europe needs to maintain an ambitious policy on climate change but abandon its approach which gives renewable energies a de facto monopoly over the decarbonisation of the energy system, argues André Ferron and Claude Fischer in an interview with EurActiv.

Turkey's energy minister has confirmed that the government has picked a Japanese-French consortium to build the country's second nuclear power plant, a project expected to cost an estimated €15 billion.

Germany’s transition to renewable energy may cost up to €1 trillion in the next two decades, the environment minister said on Wednesday (20 February), piling pressure on his opponents to back plans to cap power price rises before the election.

Restarting two Belgian nuclear power plants which have been shut since the discovery of micro-cracks in their reactor vessels would be a hazardous move with potentially “catastrophic consequences”, according to a new study commissioned by the Green Party group in the European Parliament.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to convince Czech leaders yesterday (3 December) to pick US firm Westinghouse over a Russian rival for a €8 billion nuclear power project, the country's biggest-ever public energy tender.

Polish environmentalists say that they are operating in a ‘climate of fear’ involving harassment by the country’s security police, and denunciations from government ministers for “working against the public interests of the state”.

Russia and Ukraine began yesterday (4 October) the construction on a nuclear fuel plant. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the plant will contribute to the country’s energy independence and experts commented that the new facility was good news for East European countries with Russia-built nuclear reactors.  

Europe's nuclear reactors need investment of €10 billion to €25 billion, a draft Commission report says following a safety review designed to avoid a repeat of the Fukushima disaster. EurActiv obtained an advanced copy of the Commission's 57-page technical report on the stress tests conducted recently.

Russia's Atomstroyexport is seeking €1 billion in compensation following Bulgaria’s decision to shelve plans for building the Belene nuclear power station near the River Danube. Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner publication in Bulgaria, reports.

Germany may have to slow down its planned transformation to green energy, Environment Minister Peter Altmaier said in an effort to assuage worries that consumers will bear the brunt of the immense costs of the switch from nuclear.

China is poised to make a dramatic intervention in Britain's energy future by offering to invest billions of pounds in building a series of new nuclear power stations.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched three-day drills yesterday (2 July) to test missiles capable of hitting targets as far away as Israel, one day after the European Union put into effect its embargo of Iranian oil.

Europe should focus on cutting carbon emissions instead of just repeating the existing EU green policy targets which expire at the end of the decade, Britain's energy and climate chief Edward Davey told a global energy and environment summit.

European states will be given extra time to carry out tests on nuclear plants, to ensure they can withstand natural and man-made disasters, before any laws to improve nuclear safety are proposed, the EU's Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has said.

With the right manoeuvres, the EU and the US could create a new base of negotiations with the Iranian government where the implementation of its nuclear programme would not be out of question but would create mutual benefits, argues Francisco Galamas and Jelena Petrovic.

For some people in Ukraine, it has been striking to see how little awareness and discussion there is in Europe about Kyiv's plans to expand the lifetime of 12 old nuclear reactors, right on the doorstep of the EU and most likely at European taxpayers’ expense, writes Iryna Holovko, an environmental campaigner in Ukraine.

Nuclear plants have remained closed in Japan since the Fukushima disaster because of ‘nuclear-phobia’ among local communities, the Japanese trade envoy has told a meeting in Brussels.

The UK government wants nuclear power to be given parity with renewables in Europe, in a move that would significantly boost atomic energy in Britain but downgrade investment in renewable generation, according to a leaked document seen by the Guardian newspaper.

European Commission officials and energy experts believe nuclear power has turned the corner following the Fukushima disaster a year ago. Business representatives pleaded in favour of "better communication" to society following the incident, which prompted Germany to immediately close eight nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power plants are attractive for their owners but not necessarily for the consumer, says Alois Tost, independent expert consultant on energy issues.

Ukraine, a country with a strong energy sector inherited from the Soviet Union and further developed by Russia, is looking to a US investor for a nuclear fuel plant, a recently adopted government strategy reveals.

The nuclear disaster in Fukushima and subsequent scepticism vis-a-vis nuclear power has increased the chances of the up-and-down Nabucco pipeline project materialising in the future, the European Union's energy commissioner has said.

E.ON, the world's largest utility by sales, joined peers in posting weak half-year results as Germany's decision to abandon nuclear power forced it to slash its profit outlook, its dividend and up to 11,000 jobs. The company is widely seen as a casualty of Germany’s plans to phase out nuclear energy.

Radioactive waste from Europe's 143 nuclear reactors must in future be buried in secure bunkers, ministers from EU member states agreed on Tuesday (19 July).