Nuclear power

Slovenia's sole nuclear power station in Krško has finished building its new dry cask storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, a EUR 100 million project that has been completed as part of the plant's latest ten-year security upgrade.

Bojan Kumer, the minister of environment, climate and energy, has sparked controversy by saying there will be nothing wrong if the timeline for a new unit at Slovenia's sole nuclear power station is delayed.

France on Thursday warned of the "unacceptable risk for nuclear safety and security" from power cuts at a major Ukrainian power plant, after a Russian missile strike left it running on diesel generators.

"France has taken note and is concerned over information of a new disconnection (from the grid) at the Zaporizhzhia plant," foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said.

While a decision on a new nuclear reactor in Slovenia is still pending, it could be built and running by 2035 if things proceed without hiccups, according to a senior official of Gen Energija, the company which manages Slovenia's only nuclear power station in Krško.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez has stated that in addition to conventional nuclear power plants, small and medium-sized modular reactors (SMR) have also been included in the agenda for the "zero emission" target envisaged for 2053.

Rosatom has announced that it manufactured and dispatched a shipment of nuclear fuel mock-ups for the first unit of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.

The fuel dummies are shipped together with mock-ups of control rods and tools for incoming inspections of nuclear fuel, the Russian company said in a statement.

On October 29 at 9 p.m., the sixth power unit of the Kozloduy NPP was disconnected from the country's electricity system, announced the staff of the plant. The reason is a technical problem in the cooling system of the generator - the non-nuclear part of the unit. There is no change in the radiation situation.

Ukraine's nuclear energy operator said Tuesday that Russian forces were performing secret work at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, activity that could shed light on Russia's claims that the Ukrainian military is preparing a "provocation" involving a radioactive device.

A global search for alternative sources to Russian energy during the war in Ukraine has refocused attention on smaller, easier-to-build nuclear power stations, which proponents say could provide a cheaper, more efficient alternative to older model mega-plants.

Germany has said it would keep two nuclear plants on standby beyond the end of the year in a policy U-turn, as the shut-off of Russian gas supplies sends Europe scrambling for energy sources.