Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Joint Research Centre’s reactor at Geel, the Netherlands, was to be restarted in March, following its shutdown in February for IAEA-led safety assessments. These have led to improved training and monitoring procedures.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FINANCED global action plan to improve safety in the nuclear energy sector has been approved in principle by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. A number of countries have pledged around US$4.6 million to fund its programmes, although this falls far short of the US$12 million price tag claimed by the IAEA, which also wants a fund of US$20 million established to handle security emergencies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LITHUANIA is trying to pressure the European Union into paying it massive financial support for decommissioning Ignalina nuclear power plant by 2009, which Brussels is demanding as a condition for allowing Vilnius to join the EU. In ongoing accession negotiations, Lithuania claims it cannot afford to carry out the work, estimating that it will cost Euro 3 billion.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Atomic Energy Agency has secured a radioactive source containing a significant amount of cobalt-60 in Uganda. It had been discovered and impounded by the Ugandan authorities and the IAEA team checked its shielded container’s security and safety.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A MEMORANDUM of Understanding has been signed by nine south Asian electricity utilities regarding the promotion of regional cooperation in energy development. As a result, utilities from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal will share information on best practice regarding energy generation and management.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE NATIONAL Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India is to explore the creation of joint ventures with state electricity boards as well as publicly-owned foreign utilities to meet its target of boosting capacity by 20,000 megawatts by 2012.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo
SRI Lankan legislators are considering proposals to create a powerful national electricity regulator, which would combine the functions of the Ceylon Electricity Board and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. This new Power Supply Committee would have an expanded remit, being tasked with ensuring the smooth operation of electricity transmission in a country where cuts in service are common.…

KEITH NUTHALL
BELGIAN power utilities Electrabel and SPE will continue to receive subsidies from their national government allowing them to promote the development of renewables, even though the country’s electricity system has been liberalised.

The European Commission has ruled that the companies had an ongoing commitment to boost green electricity that stemmed from the time when Belgium had a controlled electricity market and has therefore branded it as a “stranded cost.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is expected this month (May) to announce a proposed directive boosting the use of co-generation, although EU electricity association Eurelectric thinks it may at the same time moderate earlier targets for doubling the share of energy represented by the sector.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is piling political pressure onto industries, especially fossil fuel electricity generators, which pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, to force them to clean up their processes, adding costs to their bottom line.

In a move that will only serve to make CHP and renewable plants more competitive by comparison, the Commission is preparing a raft of legal cases against eight European Union Member States, to force them to monitor and restrict their production of key greenhouse pollutants.…