Berlin (AFP) Jul 23, 2007 - French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to kick Germany out of a Franco-German nuclear engineering joint venture to create an all-French energy giant, a German magazine reported Saturday. Sarkozy wants to buy Siemens AG's 34 percent stake in Areva NP, a joint venture set up in 2001 with French nuclear group Areva, Wirtschaftswoche said in an article to appear on Monday, citing company sources.
Moscow (AFP) July 23, 2007 - Russian activists on Monday denounced what they said was a police cover-up over the killing of a protester near a Siberian nuclear facility over the weekend. The activist group Autonomous Action, which organised the protest, said in a statement there had been insistent requests from police and prosecutors to camp participants ... not to make a fuss and to avoid speaking to journalists group said the raid on the camp on Saturday, which left one protester dead and seven others in hospital, was not carried out by ordinary hooligans, but was a planned attack by Nazis.
London UK (SPX) Jul 23, 2007 - While investment opportunities still exist in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector of the Russian energy industry for the construction of gas liquefaction plants, the Government has turned its focus on the nuclear power generation sector. The idea is to attract significant foreign investment by diversifying and transmitting nuclear energy through the establishment of various nuclear plants and other technologies.
Tokyo (AFP) Jul 23, 2007 - Japan has agreed to let UN experts inspect its largest nuclear power plant, which leaked radiation after a powerful earthquake, causing a scare, a report said. Kyodo News said the industry ministry has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) it will agree to the inspection of the plant some 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of Tokyo. No officials could immediately be reached late Sunday to confirm the report, which quoted unnamed government officials.
New Delhi (RIA Novosti) Jul 23, 2007 - India and the United States said they had made significant progress on a major agreement in the sphere of civilian nuclear cooperation after four days of intensive negotiations that ended Friday in Washington. We had a constructive and positive discussion, both sides said in a statement. We will now refer the issue to our governments for final review.
Berlin (AFP) Jul 23, 2007 - A German nuclear plant that was shutdown last month prompting criticism of its Swedish operator was on Saturday stopped indefinitely to allow for further security checks, officials said. Nuclear safety experts found failures in the emergency cooling system at Brunsbuettel plant, an official in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein said. The plant was disconnected from the main electricity network after it became overloaded on June 28, although it continued to produce power for its own use.
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jul 23, 2007 - Constellation Energy and EDF have announced a strategic joint venture focused on the potential development and deployment of the first fleet of new nuclear power plants in the United States and Canada in nearly three decades. Constellation Energy and EDF will form a new nuclear holding company, known as UniStar Nuclear Energy, LLC, designed to develop, own and operate new U.S. and Canadian nuclear projects.
San Diego CA (SPX) Jul 23, 2007 - Green Star Products President, Joseph LaStella, stated Today we are closer than ever before solving our energy and global warming issues. The solution is 'ALGAE', one of the oldest forms of life on Earth. Algae-to-biofuels is quickly becoming a hot item. Unfortunately, like many new technology trends nonsense prevails and uninformed investors follow the yellow brick road. However, there is reality emerging.
Moscow (AFP) July 21, 2007 - A Russian environmental activist died on Saturday after armed attackers raided a protesters' camp outside a nuclear facility in Siberia, officials and activists said. One of some 20 protesters at the tent camp told AFP the attackers were skinheads who had used baseball bats, hammers, metal rods and an axe during the raid near the Angarsk uranium enrichment plant.
Tokyo (AFP) July 20, 2007 - Japan on Friday asked businesses to save on energy during peak hours this summer after a powerful earthquake led to the closure of the country's largest nuclear power plant, officials said. The order came as authorities said that heat was contributing to illness among elderly people staying in shelters after Monday's powerful earthquake, which killed 10 people and injured more than 1,000 more.
Tokyo (AFP) July 19, 2007 - Worries about energy supply in Japan grew Thursday as officials said an earthquake-hit nuclear plant would stay shut at least for the summer amid fresh safety fears. The powerful earthquake killed 10 people, injured more than 1,000 and destroyed hundreds of buildings, forcing Japan's fast-growing automakers to curtail production. Measuring 6.8 on the Richter-scale, it struck just nine kilometres (five miles) from the world's largest nuclear power plant, where smoke billowed for hours and a small amount of radioactive water leaked.
Berlin (AFP) Jul 18, 2007 - The head of Vattenfall Europe, an arm of Swedish energy giant Vattenfall, resigned Wednesday after a series of incidents, including a fire, at two of the group's German nuclear power plants. Vattenfall Europe chief Klaus Rauscher has offered to step down from his position, the company said in a statement which named Hans-Juergen Cramer, a member of Vattenfall's German management, as acting head of the company's European activities.
Washington DC (AFP) Jul 18, 2007 - The United States and India have identified possible solutions to issues hampering a final accord on a landmark bilateral civilian nuclear deal, the State Department said Wednesday. The two powers have been for two years trying to devise a comprehensive agreement under which the United States would provide nuclear technology and fuel after agreeing in principle to reverse three decades of sanctions.
Kashiwazaki (AFP) Jul 18, 2007 - Authorities in Japan were Tuesday investigating a second nuclear scare and dozens of other problems discovered at a massive power plant following a deadly earthquake. Fires, leakages of water and oil, misplaced duct pipes and broken equipment, have been recorded since the 6.8 magnitude quake hit the area of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility on Monday, its operator said.
Kashiwazaki (AFP) Jul 18, 2007 - Japanese people are used to seeing injured people and destroyed homes after major quake. But the latest disaster brought something new and frightening -- black smoke billowing from a nuclear plant. The scene has shaken Japanese confidence in nuclear power plants and led the government to order that the largest one in the world stay shut, despite a potential energy shortage in the peak summer months.
Kashiwazaki, Japan (AFP) July 18, 2007 - Authorities Wednesday ordered the world's largest nuclear plant to stay shut indefinitely after Japan's deadly earthquake, as its operator revealed a radiation leak was worse than thought. As the death toll rose to 10, some of Japan's top automakers said they would reduce or suspend production nationwide because of a parts shortage caused by the quake.
