THE WORLD'S NUCLEAR NEWS AGENCY

World Nuclear Review - week ending 6th June 2003

No Change in N-Fuel Supply Plan For Bushehr, Says Russia

Russia has moved to clarify reports that it will suspend planned supplies of nuclear fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant, under construction in Iran, as a result of concerns raised at this week's G8 summit in France.

A number of international media reports had claimed that Russia had agreed that its continued support for the Bushehr project was now conditional on Iran signing an additional protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). UK prime minister Tony Blair also told Britain's House of Commons that Russian president Vladimir Putin had "made clear that... Russia would suspend its exports of nuclear fuel to Iran".

However, Russia's atomic energy ministry, Minatom, has insisted that although Mr Putin agreed that Iran should sign the additional protocol, plans to supply nuclear fuel to Bushehr were not conditional on the signing. This was also confirmed in the 5th June edition of Rossiyskaya Gazeta - the official newspaper of the Russian government.

Minatom said that its supply of fuel has "no relation" to the protocol issue because Russia is building Bushehr "in accordance with all effective international agreements, including non-proliferation ones".

Source: Nuclear Society of Russia / Minatom / UK Government

Original report: NucNet News No. 191, 5th June

Court Rejects Intervention in PBMR Process

The Pretoria High Court in South Africa has refused to intervene in the process preceding the construction of a planned demonstration unit of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) at Koeberg, near Cape Town.

The 3rd June ruling followed an application made by South African utility Eskom asking the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) for permission to build the demonstration unit.

Eskom says it is ready to move forward with the project, subject to the required statutory approvals being obtained.

However, the Cape Town branch of the environmental organisation Earthlife Africa (EA) brought an urgent application to the court for an order that would force DEAT's director-general to give EA an opportunity to make more representations before he made his decision. EA also wanted access to all documents on which the director-general would base his decision.

Presiding judge George Webster ruled that EA's application was not urgent and he turned it down. He said that EA had known for more than six months that the process had reached the stage where a decision would be taken.

The judge referred to legal argument, made on behalf of Eskom, that the decision by the director-general was more of a recommendation to the minister and that the director-general was obliged to provide reasons for his decision. There was still an appeal procedure that could be followed after that.

Source: PBMR Co / South African Press Association

Original report: NucNet News No. 190, 4th June

Increase in World N-Power Generation And Capacity in 2002

World nuclear power generation increased slightly last year to 2574 terawatt hours (TWh) compared to 2544 TWh previously, according to latest official figures published by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA says there were 441 nuclear power reactors in operation worldwide at the end of 2002 compared to 438 previously. Total generating capacity was 359 000 megawatts (MW), compared to the 2001 total of around 355 000 MW (see News No. 246, 12th July 2002).

The 10 countries with the highest reliance on nuclear power in 2002 were: Lithuania (80.1%), France (78%), Slovakia (65.4%), Belgium (57.3%), Bulgaria (47.3%), Ukraine (45.7%), Sweden (45.7%), Slovenia (40.7%), Armenia (40.5%) and Switzerland (39.5%).

The IAEA's table showing nuclear power reactors in operation and under construction as of 31st December 2002 can be found via the agency's web site (www.iaea.org/worldatom).

Source: IAEA's Power Reactor Information System (PRIS)

Original report: NucNet News No. 193, 6th June

Renewed Operating Licences for Canadian Facilities

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has renewed the operating licences of three Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) facilities including the Chalk River Laboratories, MAPLE reactors and the New Processing Facility (NPF).

All of the facilities are in Chalk River, Ontario. The licence for the Chalk River Laboratories is valid until July 2006 and the licences for the MAPLE reactors and the NPF are valid until May 2005.

Source: CNSC

Original report: NucNet News No. 188, 3rd June

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