[ RadSafe ] EU Approves New French Nuclear Reactor

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

EU Approves New French Nuclear Reactor
Russia Delays Iran Bushehr Nuclear Unit Completion-Report
Russian nuclear chief says Russian-Kazakh uranium enrichment center 
Nuclear reactor near St. Petersburg safely shut down
Britain OKs Break-Up of Nuclear Group
Is Miss. Nuclear Plant Expansion a Risk?
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EU Approves New French Nuclear Reactor

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) Oct 24  - The EU on Tuesday approved French 
plans to build a new atomic power reactor expected to be a model for 
the next generation of more fuel-efficient nuclear energy stations. 

Under EU nuclear rules, the European Commission must clear 
investments for building or renovating nuclear power plants. 

Electricite de France SA says the new station - to be built at 
Flamanville, northern France - will be able to generate 1,600 
megawatts of energy using European pressurized-water reactor, or EPR, 
technology that aims to use 17 percent less fuel. 

It should be operational by 2012, paving the way for other plants to 
adopt the technology by 2020, EDF said. 

The company said some 58 French nuclear plants reach their 40th 
birthday around 2020 and may need to be shut down. EDF wants to have 
the Flamanville 3 plant up and working as a "technically tested and 
validated reactor model" in place before then. 

The new model should have a longer life span of 60 years.
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Russia Delays Iran Bushehr Nuclear Unit Completion-Report

MOSCOW (AP) Oct 25 --Russia has postponed the completion of Iran's 
first nuclear power plant because of technical reasons, the head of 
the Russian company in charge of the project said, according to news 
agencies. 

"All delays to the launch of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran 
are of a technical and management nature," Sergei Shmatko, head of 
Russia's state-run Atomstroiexport, was quoted as saying by RIA-
Novosti. 

Russia is building a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, southern Iran, 
under an $ 800 million project. 

Last month Russia agreed to ship fuel to Bushehr by March 2007 and 
open the facility in September, adding to the concerns of the U.S. 
and others over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. 

The U.S. and its European allies this week proposed a draft U.N. 
Security Council resolution imposing sanctions against Iran for 
defying demands to halt uranium enrichment activity. 

But in an effort to secure Russian support, the draft resolution 
exempts some aspect of the Russian work on Bushehr - despite U.S. 
demands that the controversial project be halted entirely under the 
sanctions. 

Russia and China have agreed in principle to imposing sanctions but 
both continue to publicly push for dialogue instead of U.N. 
punishment, despite the collapse last month of a E.U. attempt to 
entice Iran into talks over an incentive package. 

As permanent members of the U.N. council, Russia and China hold the 
power to veto its actions.
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Report: Russian nuclear chief says Russian-Kazakh uranium enrichment 
center to start work soon

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's nuclear chief said Thursday that a joint 
Russian-Kazakh uranium enrichment center would soon start working, 
the Interfax news agency reported. 

"We will complete the preparatory procedure before the end of the 
year and will be able to announce the start of its work," Sergei 
Kiriyenko, the chief of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, was quoted 
as saying. 

Kiriyenko said earlier this year in Vienna that a uranium enrichment 
center that could produce nuclear fuel for nations wanting to develop 
civilian atomic energy could start operating next year. The new 
center is to be built at the Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Plant in 
eastern Siberia, which produces uranium fuel for nuclear power 
plants. 

The Angarsk center will enrich Kazakh uranium, Kiriyenko was quoted 
as saying Thursday. Kazakhstan has 30 percent of the world's uranium 
reserves and is currently the fourth biggest uranium producer, 
according to the KazAtomProm state nuclear company. KazAtomProm plans 
to boost production more than fourfold by 2010 to 15,000 metric tons 
(16,500 short tons) and become the world's largest uranium producer.
----------------

Nuclear reactor near St. Petersburg safely shut down

MOSCOW (AP) Oct 20 - An automatic safety system shut down a nuclear 
reactor Friday at a power plant near St. Petersburg, but there was no 
radiation leak, officials said. 

The safety system shut down reactor No. 2 at the Leningrad nuclear 
power plant, according to a statement from Russia's state-controlled 
Rosenergoatom company, which is in charge of nuclear power plants. 

Radiation levels at the plant and adjacent territory has remained 
normal, the company said, adding that the cause of the shutdown was 
being determined. 

The Leningrad plant is located on the coast of the Gulf of Finland 
and has four 1,000-megawatt graphite RBMK reactors. 

Russia has 10 nuclear power plants with a total of 31 nuclear 
reactors.
------------------

Britain OKs Break-Up of Nuclear Group

LONDON (AP) Oct 24 - The British government said Tuesday it had 
approved the break-up and sale of British Nuclear Group, the nuclear 
decommissioning arm of state-owned British Nuclear Fuels PLC. 

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alistair Darling said he 
had approved the company's decision to break up British Nuclear Group 
into four parts. 

"In order to safeguard the interests of the taxpayer and ensure the 
best solution for the company, its workers and the market in nuclear 
cleanup, BNG should be split up before being sold off," Darling said 
in a statement. 

Darling said he expects the first three parts of the group to be sold 
during 2007. They are the project services division; the company's 
one-third shareholding in the management of the military research 
facility Atomic Weapons Establishment Management Ltd.; and the unit 
that manages 11 nuclear decommissioning sites. 

The fourth part - a five-year contract to manage and operate the 
Sellafield nuclear waste and engineering complex - will be opened to 
bidding from April 2007, with a contractor chosen by mid-2008, the 
government said. 

Darling also said the government would establish a national nuclear 
library at Sellafield in northwest England to protect Britain's 
nuclear research and development needs. 

Darling said the library would "play a key role in supporting the 
U.K.'s strategic R&D requirements, and operate world-class 
facilities." 
----------------

Is Miss. Nuclear Plant Expansion a Risk?

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Oct 13 - Environmental groups opposed to 
expanding a nuclear power plant accused federal regulators of failing 
to publicly address whether the project would increase the risk of 
terrorism. 

In a formal objection filed Thursday with the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, the Sierra Club and two Washington-based environmental 
groups - Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Public Citizen -
 urged the agency to hold public hearings. 

The plan for a second reactor at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station near 
Port Gibson, about 25 miles south of Vicksburg, is in the permitting 
phase. 

"You don't have to be a CIA agent to know that nuclear power plants 
are natural targets," said Rose Johnson, co-chairwoman of the Sierra 
Club's Mississippi chapter. "People have a right to know the 
potential dangers they face in their own neighborhoods." 

Commission spokesman Scott Burnell said Friday that regulators are 
currently considering only whether the site can support a new nuclear 
power plant and do not typically address security at this stage. 

The existing reactor, which has been producing electricity since 
1985, is one of 10 operated by Entergy  Corp. The expansion project 
is being pushed by NuStart Energy, a consortium of nearly a dozen 
energy companies. 

Entergy officials have said it could take the consortium five years 
to secure permits for a new reactor and another five years to build 
it. No decisions have been made on whether to proceed.

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Sandy Perle 
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations 
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc. 
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714 Extension 2306 
Fax:(949) 296-1144

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