Nuclear news 27/11/2007

Lithuania still sees new nuclear plant in 2015 -PM
Reuters
Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas believes Lithuania can still build a new nuclear power plant by 2015 but uncertainties over the timetable and capacity remain, he said on Monday.
The project, led by Lithuania and involving Latvia, Estonia and Poland, has already become bogged down by Warsaw's demand for one third of the new plant's output.
"We are keeping to the timetable of 2015 but it is difficult to answer very exactly," Kirkilas said in an interview to Reuters.

British Energy names likely nuclear plant sites
The Financial Times
Plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations will take a significant step forward today when British Energy names four sites in the south of England as the first it wants to link to the national grid.
Sizewell in Suffolk, Dungeness in Kent, Hinkley in Somerset and Bradwell in Essex have been identified as the most likely sites for new nuclear construction.

UN Checks Russian Nuclear Fuel for Iran
AP
Inspectors from the U.N. atomic watchdog agency on Monday began checking uranium fuel that was produced at a Russian facility for Iran's first nuclear power plant, officials said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's experts will certify and seal fuel intended for the power station Russia is building in the Iranian port of Bushehr, said Sergei Guryanov, a spokesman for the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant in Siberia. The plant is Russia's main manufacturer of fuel for nuclear power plants.

Five-nation nuclear inspection team in NKorea: officials
AFP
Officials from the five nations trying to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday to observe the disablement of the isolated state's main atomic facility, officials said.
The delegation, including senior US diplomat Sung Kim, will visit the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which is slowly being disabled in accordance with an agreement struck in February, they said.

Debate about future nuclear energy use must begin - Czech prime minister
Forbes
Nuclear power should be discussed as a future energy use to help maintain economic growth, Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek said at a nuclear forum, the Czech news agency CTK reported.
It was the second time in a month Topolanek spoke in favour of the power source. However his government, with the involvement of the Green party, pledged earlier this year not to build new nuclear power plants during the current election cycle, ending in 2010, hindering plans of dominant Czech power producer CEZ to expand its nuclear power capacity.