Burnham-On-Sea - Somerset, UK

One of the nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point power station, near Burnham-On-Sea, has been shut down after unexpectedly "tripping" on Thursday morning (May 8th) following an "engineering issue."

British Energy told Burnham-On-Sea.com that Hinkley Point's B8 reactor stopped unexpectedly and engineers at the plant are working on a restart plan.

Spokesman Martin Butlin added: "There is certainly no need for concern. It is not a major issue, just an engineering one."

"I cannot go into the details about the issue as they are commercially sensitive."

A separate spokeswoman confirmed: "The reactor tripped this morning. We are aware of the reason and it's not a major issue."

Hinkley Point has two reactors with a generation capacity of 610MW each.

Seeking Alpha - New York,NY,USA
Good morning and welcome to Progress Energy's 2008 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded and all of your phone lines will be in the listen-only mode until we begin the question-and-answer session.

William (Bill) D. Johnson - Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer  - Thanks Bob, good morning everyone. Thanks for joining us for our review of first quarter earning results and for your interest in Progress Energy. I will start this morning with some overall comments about our company in our first quarter, then we will update you on regulatory and legislative matters as well as our Levy County nuclear projects and Peter will review our first quarter financials and the outlook for 2008.

Kathimerini - Athens,Greece

A more positive note was sounded yesterday on introducing nuclear energy into the country as officials argued that a larger number of Greece's neighbors have shown interest in using the unpopular power source.

National Council on Energy Strategy (SEES) head Rafael Moisis said that the time is coming to open talks on using this technology to power energy plants after 2020.

Moisis's comments come after Environment Minister Giorgos Souflias had suggested earlier this week that the European Union regards nuclear energy as «green energy, since it does not...

AFP
LONDON (AFP) - State-owned French power company EDF, in the running for a stake in British Energy, has bought land near two existing nuclear sites in England and Wales, the Financial Times said Friday.

The business daily said the firm had acquired land near Wylfa on the island of Anglesey, north Wales, and Hinckley Point, in the county of Somerset, southwest England.

It assessed that the "stealthy purchases" could allow it to build up to...

NUCBIZ.COM

D.C. Cook announced that Mark Peifer, the current site vice president, has been named as vice president Generating Assets - Indiana Michigan Power. He will report to Mark McCullough, AEP senior vice president, Fossil and Hydro Generation. Larry Weber, the current plant engineering director, has been named as the new site vice president. The transition will be complete by June 1, 2008. A new engineering director will be named at a later date. 

IndustryWeek - USA
May 8, 2008 -- Toshiba Corp. said May 7 that it had agreed to tie up with India's JSW Group to manufacture and market steam turbines and generators for thermal power plants in India.

Toshiba and JSW, which is part of O.P. Jindal Group, plan to invest about $250 million in plant and manufacturing equipment for the joint venture, which will be owned 75% by Toshiba and 25% by JSW.

Manufacturing operations are expected to start in...

RussiaToday - Russia
A new pact with the United States has been hailed by the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation, who says it opens huge possibilities for trade. The nuclear pact will allow commercial deals on civilian projects without the express consent of either government.

"Before we had this agreement nothing that has anything to do with nuclear technologies could cross the borders of our two countries," said Sergey Kirienko, General Director of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

"But this document opens wide opportunity for co-operation on U.S. and Russian soil and even in third party states," he noted.

Canada.com - Don Mills,Ontario,Canada
The Saskatchewan Party government denied that the Lake Diefenbaker area has been picked as the home of any future nuclear reactor even as a 2007 SaskPower report naming a site near Elbow as the preferred location surfaced Wednesday.

The document, prepared under the previous NDP government, was leaked to CBC a day after Sask. Party Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd said in Calgary the government would welcome development from...

The Tennessean - Nashville,TN,USA

A company that last year won a $1 billion contract with TVA was the main contractor for restarting an Alabama nuclear reactor that has spent months on a federal watch list.

Bechtel, the California-based private firm, was hired by TVA late last year to finish building Unit 2 at its Watts Bar nuclear plant in East Tennessee.
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TVA decided to complete Unit 2, at a cost of $1.1 billion, after having Bechtel do a $20 million feasibility study.

Bechtel also was the lead contractor in TVA's five-year, $1.8 billion construction project to restart the Browns Ferry Unit 1 reactor in northern Alabama, about 100 miles south of Nashville. Restarted last year, the plant's five unplanned shutdowns in its first six months of operation earned it a place on the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission's watch list.

BurlingtonFreePress.com - Burlington,VT,USA

BRATTLEBORO -- The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant will not be penalized for allowing a cooling tower to degrade to such an extent that it collapsed, spilling thousands of gallons of water.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has instead issued the plant a "noncited violation" for not following nuclear industry recommendations for preventing the problems that led to the collapse last August.

"We looked at it in terms of nuclear safety, and there was no real significance involved," said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Northeast regional office.

The cooling tower collapse led to dramatic photographs of the 6-foot pipe spewing water; it led to heightened public concern about the condition of the 36-year-old reactor; and it prompted Gov. Jim Douglas to support an independent review of the plant as it seeks a 20-year license extension.

If you have lessons learned on ILT audit exams please let me know.

Bob.Meyer@insightbb.com 

Automotive World (subscription) - London,UK

France's electricity network based on nuclear energy has given Renault and PSA Peugeot-Citroen an advantage in the race to build battery-powered electric cars, because batteries recharged by nuclear energy mean... 

guardian.co.uk - UK
Centrica, owners of British Gas, still hopes to reach a deal with French power group EDF to carve out the future of British Energy ahead of Friday's deadline for submitting bids for the UK's main nuclear energy producer, it emerged today.

It is understood that EDF will go ahead and submit, on its own, an all-cash bid for BE that would value the once-stricken company at between 600 and 650p a share. The government is selling its 35% stake, with several other big European utilities expected to submit offers.

Centrica, which refused to comment, would end up with...

Bizjournals.com - Charlotte,NC,USA
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released Wednesday a draft Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit public input to the FutureGen project where the DOE will help build commercial-scale Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) clean coal power plants by providing funding for the addition of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to multiple plants that will be operational by 2015.

DOE announced in January it was backing off its plans to help build the FutureGen Alliance's $1.8 billion...