Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:
Berlin warns nuclear industry
’BERLIN, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The German nuclear industry is expecting a revival for their power source, but not so fast, warns the new German government. The bosses of Germany's big utilities were rubbing their hands with glee when it surfaced that Chancellor Angela Merkel's Conservatives would be re-elected in a team with the pro-business Free Democratic Party -- both groups had campaigned in favor of nuclear power, and they were set to scrap the planned phase-out of the controversial energy source. After the election, Juergen Grossmann, the head of utility RWE, urged the new government to swiftly extend the running times of the German reactors. But officials from both parties have warned utilities that nuclear won't be boosted at all costs. "If the utilities refuse our terms and conditions then the nuclear phase out will remain in place," Andreas Pinkwart, a senior FDP official, told German news magazine Der Spiegel. Pinkwart said each reactor needed to be evaluated regarding its safety before a decision can be made. "Some reactors may even qualify for an earlier shut down," he warned.’
One-stop fuel shop coming for Asia
’A joint venture is to be created to manufacture nuclear fuel from Kazakh uranium using French technology and sell it to the Asian market as an integrated product. The parties involved are France's Areva and KazAtomProm of Kazakhstan and the deal follows an earlier joint venture to mine uranium in Kazakhstan. The agreement was signed in the Kazakh capital Astana by Vladimir Shkolnik, president of KazAtomProm, and Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon during an official visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. Areva will hold a 51% stake in the joint venture - to be known as Ifastar - with KazAtomProm holding the remaining 49%. A framework agreement to establish the joint venture was signed last month. The formation of Ifastar, to be based in Paris, is aimed at boosting both companies' position in Asia. In a joint statement, Areva and KazAtomProm said that Ifastar would initially assess the Asian market "in view of selling integrated fuel packages (including all front-end segments and combining KazAtomProm's uranium resources and Areva's fuel technology) to electric utilities operating in Asia."’
Israel scrambles warplanes over nuclear facility
’JERUSALEM - Israel's air force scrambled fighter jets Tuesday after a small civilian aircraft flew into restricted airspace near the country's heavily guarded and secretive Dimona nuclear reactor, security officials said Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the Dimona nuclear reactor. The Israeli military said two fighter planes that were already airborne responded and directed the pilot to a nearby airport. Israeli media said the man had flown into the area accidentally and was released after being questioned.’
Steam generators delivered to TMI
’Areva has delivered two replacement steam generators for use in unit 1 of Exelon's Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant in Philadelphia. It took eight weeks to transport the massive components from the manufacturing site in France to the US power plant. The steam generators were manufactured at Areva's Chalon/Saint Marcel facility in eastern France. After being shipped to Port Deposit, Maryland, the components were transported 120 kilometres over land to the TMI plant. The journey over land required a crew of about 100 on a daily basis and at times the convoy stretched over 3 kilometres in length. Each steam generator weighs more than 510 tonnes, measures over 22 meres and almost 4 metres in diameter. Total weight for each transport with steam generator was about 825 tonnes and measured 16 metres long, 5 metres and over 7 metres high. George Beam, chief operating officer of Areva NP Inc, said, "This was the most challenging large component delivery in Areva's history. Delivering these generators required complex logistics involving government and regulatory agencies in two states and numerous local communities and authorities."’
Iran to Install Advanced Centrifuges at New Enrichment Site
intends to enrich uranium at its Qum facility using a new model of advanced centrifuge, one of the country's top nuclear officials said in remarks published today. Iran's disclosure of the unfinished site last month heightened Western suspicions that the Middle Eastern state's uranium enrichment program is geared toward generating nuclear-weapon material. Tehran contends that its nuclear program is strictly civilian in nature, and the government has repeatedly refused to consider halting the effort in exchange for political and economic benefits. "We have put our effort on research and development of new machines in the past two or three months so that we would be able to produce machines with high efficiency and completely indigenous," Iranian atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi said, according to Reuters. "We are hopeful of using a new generation of centrifuges at the Fordu site," Salehi told the Kayhan, referring to the Qum facility. The new machines could be two to three times faster than Iran's existing P-1 centrifuges, which at times have been forced off-line by overheating or vibrations’
Rudd slams door on nuclear waste industry
Rudd government has rejected calls from former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans for Australia to take back the waste from the uranium it sells. A spokesman for Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, regarded as a strong supporter of the uranium industry, yesterday referred The Australian to the relevant section of the Labor Party platform. It reads: "Labor will remain strongly opposed to the importation and storage of nuclear waste that is sourced from overseas in Australia." The call by Mr Evans, Labor's troubleshooter on nuclear non-proliferation, has met with an equally cool response from both the uranium industry and the nuclear lobby. "The countries that use nuclear power take responsibility for the waste and none of them are asking Australia to take it back," Australian Uranium Association executive director Michael Angwin said yesterday.’
North Korea willing to return to talks
’SEOUL: North Korea yesterday expressed willingness to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations it quit six months ago, but only after it talks directly to the United States to improve "hostile relations". Leader Kim Jong-Il gave the commitment at a meeting late on Monday with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the North's official news agency reported. Highlighting the urgency of the issue, a South Korean source said the North appeared to be in the final stages of restoring plutonium-producing plants that it had shut down before abandoning the six-party process. "The hostile relations between the DPRK (North Korea) and the United States should be converted into peaceful ties through the bilateral talks without fail," the agency paraphrased Kim as saying. "We expressed our readiness to hold multilateral talks, depending on the outcome of the DPRK-US talks. The six-party talks are also included in the multilateral talks." Kim said the North's efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula remained unchanged. The official Xinhua news agency in China, which hosts the six-party forum, said the two leaders reached "vital consensus" on the issue. Some analysts said the North did not want to snub China, its biggest trade partner and chief energy supplier, by spurning the talks. They said Pyongyang's willingness to scrap its cherished nuclear programme remained questionable.’