 |
12 August 2010
New Chinese reactor connected to grid
The third reactor of Qinshan phase II power plant has been grid connected, some 53 months after start of construction and three months ahead of schedule. It is a 610 MWe (net) Chinese pressurized water reactor based on French designs and similar to the other phase II units there and to those being built at Chanjiang on Hainan Island. Commercial operation is expected next year.
WNN 10/8/10. Nuclear Power in China
Kepco to buy 35% of Spanish uranium project
As part of a wider push to acquire uranium supplies, Korea Electric Power Co. has agreed to buy 35% of Berkeley Resources' Salamanca uranium project in Spain for $70 million. Australian-based Berkeley owns or has the rights to uranium resources of 30,900 tU in Salamanca province, with an option to acquire an 800 tU/yr mill which operated to 2003.
WNN 11/8/10. Nuclear Power in Spain
Strong increase in Rossing South resources
Extract Resources has announced a major increase in resources for the main part of its Rossing South deposit, part of its Husab uranium project. Some 99,000 tonnes of uranium at 0.0415%U indicated resources, plus 42,000 tonnes of inferred resources make the deposit one of the world's largest, and five times the size of Rio Tinto's adjacent Rossing. The company hopes to start mining in 2014, producing 5700 tU/yr.
WNN 11/8/10. Uranium in Namibia
Belarus resettlement proceeds in area affected by Chernobyl
In July the Belarus government announced that it had decided to settle back thousands of people in the "contaminated areas" covered by the Chernobyl fallout, from which 24 years ago they and their forbears were hastily relocated. Compared with the list of contaminated areas in 2005, some 211 villages and hamlets have been reclassified with less restrictions on resettlement. The decision by the Belarus Council of Ministers resulted in a new national program over 2011-15 and up to 2020 to alleviate the Chernobyl impact and return the areas to normal use with minimal restrictions. Some $2.2 billion has been budgeted to restore services and infrastructure. The focus of the project is on the development of economic and industrial potential of the Brest, Gomel, and Mogilev regions. The main priority will be agriculture and forestry, together with attracting qualified people and housing them.
The Belarus government decision is an important political landmark in an ongoing process. Studies reviewed by UNSCEAR show that the Chernobyl disaster caused little risk for the general population. A UN Development Program report in 2002 said that much of the aid and effort applied to mitigate the effects of the Chernobyl accident did more harm than good, and it seems that this finally persuaded the Belarus authorities. Two years later President Lukashenko announced a priority to repopulate much of the Chernobyl-affected regions. Then in 2009 he said that he "wants to repopulate Chernobyl's zone quickly", and to abolish the division in the country's population into "chernobylets" (people affected by the disaster and cleanup veterans) and "non-chernobylets". The post-1986 relocations seem to have been a mistake in most cases. According to the most up to date estimate of UNSCEAR the average radiation dose received by inhabitants of strict radiation control areas (cesium-137 levels in soil greater than 555 kBq/m2) in the years 1986 to 2005 was 3.2 mSv/yr, and in "contaminated areas" (Cs-137 level in soil greater than 37 kBq/m2) it was 0.47 mSv/yr. These are much lower than natural radiation exposures in many regions of the world. Average human dose from natural background is about 2.5 mSv/yr.
Other papers updated on the WNA Information Service (see WNA web site): Supply of uranium
Country papers: Russia, Emerging countries (notably SE Asia)
