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Activists Demand Full Details Of German Nuclear Plant Fire
Kiel, Germany (AFP) Jul 04, 2007 Environmentalists on Wednesday blasted an energy company for failing to reveal the full extent of a fire last week at a German nuclear power plant. The German branch of Friends of the Earth, BUND, demanded from European energy group Vattenfall "full transparency in the investigation of the causes of the fire and possible dangers." A company spokesman dismissed the criticism, saying it had provided quick and comprehensive information on the accident to the authorities. The blaze began last Thursday at the Kruemmel power plant in Geesthacht, 30 kilometres (20 miles) southeast of northern city of Hamburg, and came amid a fresh national debate about nuclear energy and global warming. The fire led to problems at the plant's nuclear reactor, the Schleswig-Holstein state social affairs ministry, which is responsible for the region's power plants, said in a statement released Thursday. Local police had reported last week that the fire, which started when coolant in a large electric power transformer substation ignited due to a short circuit, had been isolated from the atomic reactor. However experts investigating the incident found "several unusual things when the reactor was shut down" including evidence of damage related to the fire. But they said there was no radiation leak. Separately, another nuclear power plant in Schleswig-Holstein, Brunsbuettel, was temporarily shut down last Thursday about two hours before the Kruemmel fire because its capacity was overloaded. It reopened Sunday. BUND demanded the immediate closure of both plants. Germany has begun a long-term phase-out of its nuclear energy programme and expects to mothball its last plant around 2020. The plan was approved by the previous Social Democrat and Green government, but Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives argue that abandoning nuclear energy would seriously undermine the country's chances of slashing greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union has set a goal of a 20-percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared with 1990 levels, but Germany is aiming for a cut of up to 40 percent.
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Russia And France Establish JV To Produce Nuclear Power Planet Turbines
Paris (RIA Novosti) Jun 29, 2007Russia's Atomenergomash and France's Alstom signed Friday documents to establish a $400-million joint venture to manufacture half-speed turbines for nuclear power plants in Russia and abroad. The companies reached a deal in April with Russia's state controlled nuclear power corporation having a 51%-share in the JV, which will operate on the platform of the machine-building firm ZIO Podolsk in the Moscow Region. |
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