Saudi agrees on nuclear energy pact with France
‘RIYADH - The Saudi cabinet agreed on Monday to sign a nuclear cooperation accord with France, which could open the way for French help in developing nuclear power in the oil-rich kingdom. The agreement is "for the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy," the cabinet announced after its weekly meeting in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. The pact was first proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in talks with King Abdullah in June 2007 in Paris, and the French side submitted a draft when Sarkozy visited Riyadh in January 2008. Saudi agreement was delayed while Riyadh undertook last year a formal review of its nuclear policy, which resulted in the April 2010 announcement that the kingdom would establish a new research centre on nuclear and renewable energy. That was seen as the strongest signal yet that the country, which burns large amounts of oil and natural gas to generate electricity and desalinate sea water for domestic consumption, could develop nuclear power.’

First nuclear power plant will be Akkuyu, Energy Minister Yildiz
‘Turkey's energy minister said on Monday that the government was resolved on the nuclear energy power plant. In an exclusive interview with the Anatolia news agency in southern province of Hatay, Minister of Energy & Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, which would be constructed in Akkuyu region of the southern province of Mersin was one of the most important projects of Turkey. Yildiz came to Hatay to attend several inauguration ceremonies. "Akkuyu will be the first nuclear power plant of Turkey. Residents of the region support us. We respect the ideas of everybody but manipulations on nuclear energy power plants are not right," he said. "It is already delayed. Construction of the nuclear power plant will start soon within the scope of an agreement signed by the governments of Turkey and Russia," he noted, and added that, "Turkey actually does not have any energy deficit or shortage. Furthermore, it has a 20-21 percent surplus in energy supply. Dependence on foreign sources is around 72-73 percent. Our efforts aim at reducing this rate."’

Nuclear Morocco?
‘Washington / Morocco Board News Service - France and Morocco signed last week a cooperation agreement on civilian nuclear power development. The two countries signed a cooperation agreement for the “development of peaceful uses of nuclear power by Morocco”, which, unlike Algeria, has no gas reserves of oil but produces phosphates that contain the uranium. Morocco expects to commission its first plant between 2022 and 2024 and aims to do the bidding and contract negotiations between 2011 and 2014. The agreement "sets the framework for actions that can be made by the two countries especially in technology, safety and training. It is a "framework agreement that has underpinned Morocco on the way to prepare its entry into the field of nuclear energy, but not a" commercial agreement for the construction of a day nuclear reactor, "said Mr Fillon. "In a second step, of course that France will make proposals to that effect, given the excellence of its technology and its businesses," he added. Morocco plans to open negotiations next year on building its first nuclear power plant, which is scheduled to be up and running between 2022 and 2024.’
 
Contaminated leak at La Salle Generating Station
‘Steps are under way today to repair a tritiated water leak discovered Wednesday at La Salle Generating Station southwest of Seneca in Brookfield Township. Workers performing regular environmental monitoring duties discovered the elevated tritium levels at the base of a storage tank on station property, and in an adjacent monitoring well. About 715,000 picocuries per liter was measured in the groundwater beneath the leaking storage tank. The federal maximum for drinking water is 20,000 picocuries of tritium per liter. The California level is 400 picocuries per liter. The tritium leak is the first for the station, which has been operating since the early 1980s. ‘The number is extraordinarily high,’ Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region 3 spokesman Victoria Mitlyng said. ‘However, this level is in the monitoring well on plant property. The wells going toward the edge of the property are being tested and show no detectable levels of tritium.’ There is no evidence at this point the tritium is moving anywhere, Mitlyng said.’
 
Contract for Sellafield liquid waste project
‘A contract for the highly-active liquid effluent facility project at the UK's Sellafield nuclear site has been awarded to the HALEF Partnership - a consortium comprising Amec, Areva and Balfour Beatty. The planned highly-active liquid effluent facility will be used to store radioactive waste arising from nuclear fuel reprocessing operations at the Sellafield site. The facility will comprise a series of high integrity highly active storage tanks and associated process equipment housed in a seismically reinforced concrete building. The initial phase of the multi-million pound contract will span two years and will commence immediately. It will require the consortium to work in partnership with Sellafield Ltd to further develop the concept design up to a point where the project definition and design can be fixed in order to determine the subsequent scope, schedule and cost for the construction phase of the project. Areva put the cost of the initial phase at over £250 million ($380 million). This may be followed by a four-year procurement construction and commissioning phase, due to start in mid-2012.’

Namibia backs Extract uranium deal
‘NAMIBIAN officials have publicly supported Extract Resources' right to the mine the big Rossing South uranium deposit. The government says it has not been approached by Russia's state-owned nuclear company Rosatom about developing the project. Last month, Russia and Namibia signed a five-year uranium co-operation agreement. Rosatom then said it had applied to develop Rossing South and would be prepared to spend $US1 billion ($1.18bn) on uranium development in Namibia, leading to speculation a deal was brewing with the government. Namibian Minister for Mines Joseph Iita moved to quash the speculation last week. "Rosatom has not approached the government" on a mining licence for Rossing South, Mr Iita told the Windhoek Observer. "It is not true that the government will give a licence for Rossing South to Rosatom, because the licence there is not for Rosatom. We are a well-organised and run country and all our actions are done in line with the law," he said. Extract needs a licence by April to proceed with plans to mine up to 6700 tonnes of uranium annually at South Rossing from 2013.’