Nuclear news 1/12/2007

Nuclear power protesters moved on
BBC News
Protesters blocking the entrance road to a nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk have been moved away.
Police said three women and a man had "locked" themselves into place outside the power station using concrete.

UN's IAEA inspects Russian fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant

Forbes

UN nuclear officials completed five days of inspections of the first consignment of Russian fuel for Iran's nuclear power plant at Bushehr, a statement from the fuel factory said.

Russian officials sealed the containers of nuclear fuel in the presence of a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, said a statement from the TVEL defence factory in Novossibirsk.

China gears up to become world's biggest operator of nuclear plants
International Herald Tribune
China, its safety reputation tattered by lead paint in toys, cancer-causing chemicals in seafood and antifreeze ingredients in toothpaste, is gearing up to become the world's biggest producer and operator of nuclear plants, and a nuclear exporter.
The country plans to build about 30 reactors by 2020, at a cost totaling 450 billion yuan, or $61 billion. It could add as many as 300 eventually, said an official from Atomic Energy of Canada.

Turkey's nuclear plant project to kick off in February
The New Anatolian
Turkish authorities are expected to invite bids for the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant in February, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said late Wednesday.
"Turkish Electricity Trade & Contract Corporation (TETAS), the state-run company to market the plant's power production, could make the announcement on February 21," Guler said. "Turkey's Atomic Energy Institute (TAEK) is working on technical criteria for the plant, a process expected to conclude by December 21."

Iranian Pushes Nuclear Talks Back to Square 1
The New York Times
In a sign tha Iran hardened its position on its nuclear program, its new nuclear negotiator said in talks in London on Friday that all proposals made in past negotiations were irrelevant and that further discussion of a curb on Iran’s uranium enrichment was unnecessary, senior officials briefed on the meeting said.
The Iranian official, Saeed Jalili, also told Javier Solana, who represented the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in the five-hour talks, that United Nations Security Council resolutions punishing Iran for not suspending its enriched uranium activities were illegal, the officials said.