Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:
Portalino: Putin approves financing program for Rosatom until 2015
‘Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved on Tuesday a program worth 2.084 trillion rubles ($83 billion) to finance the state nuclear corporation Rosatom between 2009 and 2015.’
Report on Business: Nuclear renaissance faces a big challenge
‘[I]n practice, outside countries where nuclear is state-subsidized and driven by government-set targets, new nuclear is making little progress, despite increasingly supportive policy environments. Moreover, the financial crisis is having various impacts on the industry, the most critical of which is likely to be the increased cost of capital.’
Reuters: US sanctions 13 tied to Pakistan's AQ Khan
‘The U.S. State Department said on Monday it had slapped sanctions on 13 individuals and three private companies because of their involvement in the nuclear-proliferation network associated with Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan.’
Radio Netherlands Worldwide: Austria furious at re-opening of nuclear plant
‘There are probably few countries in Europe where opposition to nuclear energy is as great as it is in Austria. In 1977, a small majority of Austrians voted against nuclear energy in a referendum. The only Austrian nuclear power station at Zwentendorf, which was due to be taken into service just a few months later, has been left since to become no more than a ruin. As things stand now, no Austrian politician would even dream of proposing the idea of building nuclear power stations.’
Boston.com: Leak fixed at nuke plant; operating at 70 percent
‘Plant spokesman Rob Williams says the source of the leak in the reactor's feedwater system was traced to a faulty weld in a 10-inch wide test port off a 24-inch feed pipe. Williams says the repairs were completed late Friday. The plant returned to full power on Saturday night, but power was reduced again Monday to allow technicians to work on a breaker in the plant switchyard. Williams says the work on the breaker came after operators noticed reduced pressure of insulating gas.’
Radio Slovakia International: Restart of Nuclear Power Plant Bohunice Second Reactor not certain
‘The operation of the second block of the V1 nuclear power plant in Jaslovske Bohunice does not necessarily have to be resumed. After a meeting of the crisis-management group on Monday, Prime Minister Robert Fico said that its reactivation would depend on the results of today’s talks between EU energy ministers in Brussels.’
Trading Markets: Analysts tip GDF Suez for 2nd French EPR contract
‘French energy and utilities group GDF Suez is well-placed to win a deal to build and operate France's second state-of-the-art EPR nuclear reactor, analysts said.’