About: nuclear Archives

Eberhard Rhein argues the benefits of rapidly removing Germany's nuclear plants far outstrip the economic costs.

Ukraine marked the 25th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident at its Chernobyl plant today (26 April), as global protests sparked by leaks from reactors at Japan's Fukushima plant continued.

EU nuclear fusion project ITER should be abandoned because it is set to be built in an earthquake zone, like the stricken Fukushima plant in Japan, MEPs will argue today (20 April) as last-chance proposals for the project to pay off a €1.3 billion funding shortfall are tabled for discussion.

Ukraine is looking to the world today (19 April) to pledge more funds to help it contain the consequences of history's worst nuclear accident. The EU, which has so far committed the lion's share to Chernobyl-related projects, committed another €110 million for a new sarcophagus, sealing the damaged reactor at least until the end of the century.

Public unease about nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster is prompting renewed scrutiny of renewable power options by governments across the world.

Japan's nuclear crisis will speed the elimination of nuclear power from some European countries and render many planned projects too risky, ultimately increasing Europe's dependence on gas.

Two women were injured in a letter bomb explosion at the offices of the Swiss nuclear lobby group in the northern Swiss city of Olten yesteday (31 March), a few days after the government suspended its approval process for three new nuclear power stations in response to the disaster in Japan.

If the EU's 2009 Eco-design Directive were to be implemented fully, the end-use energy savings by 2020 could alleviate the need for another 98 Fukushima-sized nuclear reactors, according to calculations by the European Environmental Citizens' Organisation for Standardisation (ECOS).

The future of nuclear reactors which fail the European Commission's promised stress tests is up in the air, after EU energy ministers confirmed yesterday (21 March) that participation in the EU-mandated tests would not be binding, and ultimate responsibility for nuclear policy would remain at national level.

A 40-year old Spanish nuclear power plant built to the same design model as Fukushima's disaster-struck reactor number one has become engulfed by calls for it to be shut down, while Brussels is questioning the safety of EU installations and has pushed for stress tests of nuclear power plants.

The European commissioner in charge of climate action, Connie Hedegaard, has signalled that EU decisions on commissioning new energy capacity are "very much likely to be influenced" by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

As Japan's nuclear crisis deepens, fears are growing within Europe's wind industry about European Commission plans to put nuclear power on a par with renewable energies in the post-2020 low-carbon environment.

The EU is putting in place an ambitious energy policy in a bid to improve security of supplies and achieve bold CO2 reduction targets. But how does the EU decision-making process function on energy-related issues? And what is the role of the industry sector and interest groups?

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joined regional leaders for an economic summit in Turkey yesterday (23 December), a month before nuclear talks with six major powers in Istanbul.

The European Commission will promote underground storage as the safest option for storing nuclear waste, according to a leaked proposal which has already irked environmentalists.

The Hungarian EU Presidency, to be held in the first half of 2011, wants to conclude EU legislation on regulating the disposal of nuclear waste and spent fuel. EURACTIV Hungary reports.

A dozen centre-right MEPs tried to prevent Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki from entering the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday (1 June), with some of them getting into a scuffle with security guards. Mottaki addressed the Parliament's foreign affairs committee and held talks with Socialists & Democrats group leader Martin Schulz.

Turkey's agreement with Iran to store low-enriched uranium in return for fuel rods for use in a medical research reactor suggests that Ankara is disillusioned with Europe and that Turkey's post-war partnership with the West may be coming to an end, writes Sinan Ülgen, chairman of the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) in Istanbul.

A Turkish-Brazilian deal to help Iran swap nuclear fuel cannot be considered a breakthrough unless it is fundamentally based on a fuel-swap proposal made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last year, a senior EU diplomat said today (17 May).

As part of a campaign to avert another round of United Nations (UN) sanctions, Iran's Foreign Minister held talks with leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, HINA agency reported.

The European Commission will table legislative proposals on the treatment of nuclear waste by the year's end, its president José Manuel Barroso announced yesterday (8 March) during a major OECD-hosted conference on civil nuclear power in Paris.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's majority for a new centre-right government means she can rewrite a national nuclear phaseout deal by allowing reactors to run longer than laid down by her predecessors.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has said on several occasions that "the production, stockpiling, and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam," observes European Policy Centre (EPC) founding chair Stanley Crossick in a recent post on Blogactiv.

Europe pressed demands on 15 June that Iran investigate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win. Meanwhile Washington, while calling for an end to the crackdown on opposition protests, adopted a cautious tone.