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Parsons has been awarded a two-year contract by LES to "provide engineering, construction management, and construction services" for the expansion phase of the National Enrichment Facility, Parsons announced February 3. The value of the contract was not disclosed. Parsons, a California-based engineering and construction firm, said it was awarded the contract "based on its approach, engineering excellence, and ability to partner and develop the project in a fast-track manner while meeting [NRC] licensing requirements." LES announced in November that it plans to expand the annual capacity of its centrifuge uranium enrichment facility under construction in Eunice, New Mexico from 3 million SWU to 5.9 million SWU. That will push the plant's predicted completion date to the end of 2014, resulting in a total construction cost of more than $3 billion, LES said last year. When completed, the facility will be able to provide 50% of all enriched fuel for the 104 operating power reactors in the US, Parsons said.

Uranium enricher Louisiana Energy Services on Friday said it plans to increase the capacity of its National Enrichment Facility in New Mexico to 5.9 million separative work units, a standard measure of enrichment, nearly double the original plan of 3 million SWU. The plant is currently under construction. In a press statement, LES, a Urenco subsidiary, said that with the expanded capacity, the plant would be able to provide the equivalent of about 50% of US enrichment demand. The total investment in the plant is now expected to be more than $3 billion, LES said.

A uranium enrichment facility under construction in southeastern New Mexico is preparing for more tests later this year. Gregory Smith, chief operations officer for Louisiana Energy Services, says that if an operational readiness review and another assessment of licensing performance are successful in August and September, the plant could go online before the end of the year. Officials with LES and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission met this week to talk about the National Enrichment Facility and the ongoing construction. An NRC official says LES has been through one operational review, but the second one this fall will be more in depth. The facility's centrifuges will produce enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power plants.

"Louisiana Energy Services and International Isotopes Inc. have agreed International Isotopes will provide uranium deconversion services for LES' National Enrichment Facility, which will produce enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power plants. The $3 billion enrichment facility also will produce tons of depleted uranium tails each year, which Idaho Falls, Idaho-based International Isotopes will use in a uranium deconversion and fluorine extraction processing facility. The contract allows International Isotopes to take no more than 25 percent of the depleted uranium tails. LES does not consider them waste and plans to recycle much of the material in the future for more enriched uranium. International Isotopes expects to break ground next year west of Hobbs. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing the Idaho company's plan."

The lush green hills overlooking the dairy farms of Le Chefresne in Normandy have become a battleground in France's efforts to boost power production. In a corner of France known for Camembert cheese and apples, state-controlled Electricite de France SA plans to build 200 foot-tall steel pylons with high-voltage cables to carry electricity from a nuclear plant. The proposal would add to the 400,000 volts that pylons already carry from two existing reactors. "We will be living in a microwave oven," said Jean-Claude Bossard, mayor of Le Chefresne, home to 300 people and about three times as many cows. "We want proof that there won't be dangerous health effects."

The collision of two strategic nuclear submarines earlier this month shows that the Cold War is still being fought every day in the Atlantic -- with the world's most powerful weapons. The British submarine HMS Vanguard (left) and French submarine Le The British submarine HMS Vanguard (left) and French submarine Le Triomphant (right): One of these vessels alone can carry nuclear warheads with a combined power more than 300 times greater than the atom bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The world is a good and beautiful place, and on the Mull of Kintyre, it seems as peaceful as Paul McCartney described it in his 1970s megahit. Sheep graze on the hills of this peninsula in southwestern Scotland, and the valleys are filled with the scents coming from small distilleries that produce some of Scotland's best whiskey.

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authorized startup of a $3 billion uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico, the first major nuclear facility to be licensed in the US in the past three decades. NRC officials said in a news release Thursday they are satisfied the facility can begin operations. The Louisiana Energy Services facility near Eunice will use an enrichment process that employs centrifuges to separate uranium isotopes. The enriched uranium will supply fuel for nuclear power plants in the US and overseas. LES president and chief executive Gregory Smith calls the NRC approval "a turning point" for the nation's nuclear industry. The technology used at the New Mexico plant has been in place in Europe for more than 30 years."

It was in 1957 when the bulldozers were in action preparing the ground where the first Italian reactor would stand. The place chosen by the Italian Committee for Nuclear Research (CNRN - Comitato Nazionale per le Ricerche Nucleari) was Ispra. The pictures and films show the machines and workers on the job; the scene is one of simple, bare land, where the inhabitants, with the war behind them, were watching the first steps of what would mark a significant turning-point. The story of the reactor "Ispra 1" and of the associated research centre is told in a long documentary film, which can be seen on YouTube and on the official site of the JRC

It was in 1957 when the bulldozers were in action preparing the ground where the first Italian reactor would stand. The place chosen by the Italian Committee for Nuclear Research (CNRN - Comitato Nazionale per le Ricerche Nucleari) was Ispra. The pictures and films show the machines and workers on the job; the scene is one of simple, bare land, where the inhabitants, with the war behind them, were watching the first steps of what would mark a significant turning-point. The story of the reactor "Ispra 1" and of the associated research centre is told in a long documentary film, which can be seen on YouTube and on the official site of the JRC

India has ordered a probe into whether a former American naval ship heading for a breaking yard on the country's west coast contains toxic materials after protests by environmental groups. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters late Thursday that he had ordered the enquiry into the Platinum II that dropped anchor off the coast of Gujarat on October 4. He said he hoped "to get the report within the next two days". The ship has put India's ship-breaking industry back in the spotlight following a previous controversy over the French warship "Le Clemenceau".

India has ordered a probe into whether a former American naval ship heading for a breaking yard on the country's west coast contains toxic materials after protests by environmental groups. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters late Thursday that he had ordered the enquiry into the Platinum II that dropped anchor off the coast of Gujarat on October 4. He said he hoped "to get the report within the next two days". The ship has put India's ship-breaking industry back in the spotlight following a previous controversy over the French warship "Le Clemenceau".

* Sarkozy proposes nuclear projects in Turkey and Asia * Turkish president expressed interest, Elysee says * Sarkozy hopes for GDF Suez role in Nabucco pipeline By Yann Le Guernigou PARIS, Oct 9 (Reuters) - France offered Turkey cooperation on civil nuclear energy and closer trade ties on Friday, seeking to improve relations that have been damaged by President Nicolas Sarkozy's opposition to Turkey joining the European Union. Sarkozy proposed to his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul during a working lunch at his Elysee palace that the two countries could work together on nuclear projects not only in Turkey but also in central Asia, Sarkozy's office said. "President Gul said he was interested. He noted that he had met several times with Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive of (nuclear technology group) Areva (CEPFi.PA), and that there were very interesting prospects," said an Elysee source.

* Sarkozy proposes nuclear projects in Turkey and Asia * Turkish president expressed interest, Elysee says * Sarkozy hopes for GDF Suez role in Nabucco pipeline By Yann Le Guernigou PARIS, Oct 9 (Reuters) - France offered Turkey cooperation on civil nuclear energy and closer trade ties on Friday, seeking to improve relations that have been damaged by President Nicolas Sarkozy's opposition to Turkey joining the European Union. Sarkozy proposed to his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul during a working lunch at his Elysee palace that the two countries could work together on nuclear projects not only in Turkey but also in central Asia, Sarkozy's office said. "President Gul said he was interested. He noted that he had met several times with Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive of (nuclear technology group) Areva (CEPFi.PA), and that there were very interesting prospects," said an Elysee source.

It's been a grim month for Nuclear Power, always a contentious issue for greens, power from the atom has taken two steps back as South African utility Eskom announce plans to cancel their tendering process for new nuclear plant in South Africa. It comes a week after revelations from the French economic publication Les Echos reveal that French campaign group "Sortir du nucléaire" have accused EdF of lying during a public consultation exercise which was the prelude to the decision to build a new nuclear plant at Flamanville in France.

- Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plans to speed up its investment in uranium enrichment, Les Echos reported on Thursday, citing senior executives at the French nuclear group. The group has decided to bring forward by three years a plan to build a second uranium enrichment facility at its Tricastin site in France, the paper said, noting other nuclear projects have been thrown into doubt because of the financial crisis. Work at the site will begin in the next few weeks, and be finished by the end of 2016, the paper said.

The cost of power produced by EDF's Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor will be around 20 percent more than planned, Les Echos reported, citing several sources. EDF could not immediately be reached for comment. The paper said the company will tell investors at a meeting on Wednesday that the cost of producing electricity using the reactor, in Flamanville, northwest France, will be around 55 euros a megawatt hour, instead of the 46 euros announced when the project was launched in May 2006.

Areva will submit its application for the Eagle Rock uranium enrichment facility to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday afternoon, a company source said. The facility, which is to be built in Idaho, is similar in design to the plant now being built by Urenco subsidiary Louisiana Energy Services in New Mexico. NRC licensed the LES plant in June 2006 after a 30-month review. Areva officials have said they are hoping for a similar timetable for the agency's review of their application.

French Defense Minister Hervé Morin in Paris today for the first time hinted at a possible bill, to be tabled in January, which would officially recognize and compensate veterans and workers who have suffered illnesses as a result of their exposure to the nuclear experimentation facilities in French Polynesia between the 1966 and 1996. In an interview with French daily newspaper Le Parisien, Morin said he was currently drafting a bill, to be tabled in January before the French Parliament and that would make provisions for compensation for some 100,000 civilian and military personnel working for the French Army and who would have been irradiated by the effects of nuclear testing, as well as the nearby population.

An Albuquerque-based environmental group has gone to the state Court of Appeals over a discharge permit for a uranium enrichment plant near Eunice. Citizens Against Radioactive Dumping says it feels like state officials ignored its concerns about the permit. The state Water Quality Commission in April upheld the New Mexico Environment Department's decision in favor of the permit for the Louisiana Energy Services facility.

Finland's plans to build the world's first next-generation pressurised water reactor has hit a rough patch as the initial estimated price tag has now doubled to nearly 4.5 billion euro. Areva, the French nuclear construction company building the power plant, announced that the final costs for the reactor will be 50 percent higher than originally estimated, according to Les Echos, a business newspaper. The reasons for the increase in building costs at the power plant in Olkiluoto include both rising global prices for materials and the need for Areva to bring in additional skilled workers "to ensure a quality product". This could have something to do with a recent report issued by Greenpeace condemning the safety and quality of essential welding on the plant. Confidential sources within the construction site reported that the welds were being done by unqualified welders and inspected by unqualified supervisors.

French nuclear group Areva is facing a 50 percent rise to the cost of building the world's first next-generation pressurised water reactor in Finland, the business daily Les Echos reported Thursday. The cost of constructing the plant at Olkiluoto has risen from three billion to 4.5 billion euros (6.7 billion dollars), the paper reported citing an unidentified source.

The cool waters of the Mediterranean swell gently against El-Daba'a's deserted shoreline. About halfway between Alexandria and Marsa Matruh on the North Coast, the more than 100 kilometer-stretch of white sand and vibrant coral reef would be considered prime property for tourism development, if not for the fact it has been selected as one of five possible sites for Egypt's first nuclear power plant. The nuclear project could also constitute a first for the region, aside from Israel. Planning for the 1,200-megawatt project, set for completion in 10 years time, is well underway, according to the plant's official consultant, global engineering firm WorleyParsons. The Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA), a division of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, awarded WorleyParsons the LE 900 million consulting contract two months ago. The parties signed the contract June 18, more than 50 years after Egypt's nuclear program was established.

Critics round on ministry's 'scandalous' safety record after admission to nine nuclear submarine leaks in past 12 years Radioactive waste has leaked from Britain's nuclear submarines nine times in the past 12 years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted. Two of the leaks - including one at Devonport near Plymouth two months ago - had not been revealed until today. Confirmation of the leaks raises new questions about the MoD's safety record, which has been coming under increasing scrutiny since HMS Vanguard, a British submarine armed with Trident nuclear missiles, collided with a nuclear-armed French submarine, Le Triomphant, under the Atlantic in February.