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Bulgaria's PM, Boyko Borisov, is going to talk to his German counterpart, Angela Merkel, about the potential decision of RWE to withdraw from the Belene Nuclear Plant project. This was announced by Borisov himself on Wednesday. The German media have recently published unconfirmed information about RWE's withdrawal from the project for the second Bulgarian nuclear power plant, and Borisov's statement might be construed as a confirmation of those reports, Bulgarian analysts have remarked. In December 2008, the German energy giant RWE and the Bulgarian National Electric Company NEK sealed their partnership in which RWE was chosen to acquire 49% of the Belene NPP in exchange for a capital payment of EUR 1,275 B, a premium of EUR 550 M for NEK, and a loan of EUR 300 M for the purchase of equipment and other expenditures. According to the German media, RWE is pulling out of the Belene project because of the rising costs of the NPP construction, and because of the intentions of Merkel's new government to revive the nuclear energy in Germany.

Bulgaria's PM, Boyko Borisov, is going to talk to his German counterpart, Angela Merkel, about the potential decision of RWE to withdraw from the Belene Nuclear Plant project. This was announced by Borisov himself on Wednesday. The German media have recently published unconfirmed information about RWE's withdrawal from the project for the second Bulgarian nuclear power plant, and Borisov's statement might be construed as a confirmation of those reports, Bulgarian analysts have remarked. In December 2008, the German energy giant RWE and the Bulgarian National Electric Company NEK sealed their partnership in which RWE was chosen to acquire 49% of the Belene NPP in exchange for a capital payment of EUR 1,275 B, a premium of EUR 550 M for NEK, and a loan of EUR 300 M for the purchase of equipment and other expenditures. According to the German media, RWE is pulling out of the Belene project because of the rising costs of the NPP construction, and because of the intentions of Merkel's new government to revive the nuclear energy in Germany.

The new Bulgarian government is reassessing the prospects for financing of the controversial 4 billion-euro project for the construction of NPP Belene and RWE AG's plan to expand in Bulgaria's nuclear market is on the brink of collapse. RWE say they are still probing the possibilities for realization of the project together with Bulgaria's national electric company NEK, but there still are some unsolved issues, among them being financing. And it is exactly because of the high construction costs that the Borissov-led Cabinet has put the project under question. Sources from RWE say that the German company is going to accept any decision of the Bulgarian government concerning the Belene project. Experts say that if the Bulgarian government withdraws its support, the project is certain to collapse, as the Bulgarian state holds 51% in the project venture and RWE?s stake is 49%. Financial Times Deutschland reported last week that Bulgaria's government will probably announce the end of the plan to build two nuclear reactors at the Belene site.

The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel turns its attention to the scandal in Germany surrounding the participation of RWE in the construction of NPP Belene. Jurgen Grosmann, the President and CEO of RWE, has received an unusual letter of protest from Bulgarian MPs, which showed the negative effect from the construction of the nuclear power plant on the tourism and agriculture in the region. The reason behind this letter was an answer to the plans of Grosmann to invest EUR 1.5 billion in the construction of NPP Belene. Der Tagesspiegel explains that some of the members of the supervisory board of the German company have started to have doubts about the investment following a protest action of an environmental organization. Grosmann said that the project could not be renegotiated, which made the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RWE - Thomas Fischer, try to change the interior regulations of the company. The planned changes would allow the supervisory board to take part in the approval of new investment projects. If such changes are made, there would be a majority, which would vote against the participation of RWE in the NPP Belene project.

Energy company Essent cannot transfer economic ownership of its half of the Netherlands only nuclear power station to Germany's RWE, a court in Arnhem ruled on Friday. Essent and RWE came up with the plan as part of Essent's €9.3bn takeover by RWE. According to its statutes, the Borssele plant cannot be owned by a foreign listed company. So Essent suggested giving economic ownership to RWE while its current shareholders - local and provincial councils - would retain legal ownership of the Zeeland facility. Power firm Delta, which owns the other half of Borssele, went to court to have the transfer stopped. It wants to take over Essent's 50% share in the plant and refuses to amend the statutes.

RWE hopes to construct a new plant near Sellafield and a scheme to transmit energy under the sea could deflect concerns from the Lake District National Park Authority about the possibility of pylons running across the countryside. Energy generated by wind farms in Cumbria could be transferred to the grid in the same way. Although RWE has not yet decided for definite how to connect power to the grid, the scheme has received some support. Steve Ratcliffe, director of planning and partnerships for the LDNPA, said: "The national park has been in active discussions with the group and supports the undersea pipelines option."

Energy concern Delta is to block the sale of Essent's 50% stake in the Netherlands' only nuclear power plant to the German power giant RWE, reports the Financieele Dagblad on Thursday. Delta and Essent are joint owners of the Borssele nuclear power station. On Monday RWE made a bid of €9.3bn to takeover Essent's commercial activities.

RWE Innogy and a consortium will build a solar power plant called Andasol 3 in southern Spain, developed by Solar Millennium AG, the parties said in a statement on Friday Spain pushes ahead with renewables in quest to finish with nuclear power RWE Innogy and a consortium will build a solar power plant called Andasol 3 in southern Spain, developed by Solar Millennium AG, the parties said in a statement on Friday. It said that Stadwerke Munich, MAN Ferrostaal, RheinEnergie and Solar Millennium would form a consortium with RWE Innogy for the unit, which is planned to come on stream in 2011.

RWE AG Chief Executive Officer Juergen Grossmann urged Chancellor Angela Merkel to scrap a plan to close Germany's nuclear reactors, saying an extension would protect the country from fuel price swings. "They're a predictable part of the power-generation cost" for Germany's industrial electricity users, Grossmann, who heads the country's second-largest utility, said in an interview at an energy conference in Berlin yesterday. "We hope to carry on our nuclear operations in Germany." RWE and competitor Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG are trying to build support before Merkel's September re-election bid. While she's in favor of extending nuclear power plants, her Social Democratic coalition partners oppose it. If she's able to form a partnership with the liberal Free Democratic Party, that may open the way to keeping reactors operating beyond 2021. "We don't need to mention that I would be in favor of extending the lifespan of nuclear power plants," Merkel told delegates at the conference.

Germany's Federal Administrative Court has ruled that utilities RWE (RWEG.DE) and Vattenfall [VATN.UL] may not extend the lifespan of their Biblis A and Brunsbuettel nuclear power plants as they had sought. The utilities had planned to transfer allowances to produce power at the Muelheim-Kaerlich nuclear power plant to Biblis A and Brunsbuettel and thus operate the power plants longer than initially planned.

PROPOSED nuclear reactor sites at Braystones and Kirksanton have gone forward to the government - in the face of fierce opposition from both areas. Villagers have given the thumbs down at two public meetings. But dozens of 'Hands off Braystones, No to RWE' posters put up ahead of last Thursday's meeting in nearby Beckermet have since vanished mysteriously. Ward councillor Yvonne Clarkson, who personally opposes the RWE plans, said: "We don't know where the posters have gone but what came over loud and clear at the meeting was most local people don't want a nuclear reactor at Braystones. Sellafield is a different matter - it has support for a new power station. It's all about siting.

The takeover of Holland's biggest energy utility Essent by the German power giant RWE announced yesterday includes the Dutch firm's 50% stake in the Netherlands' only nuclear power plant, Borssele, reports Tuesday's Financieele Dagblad. Dutch economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven said in October that the possibility of Dutch nuclear energy facilities coming into foreign hands was 'not an option', the paper says. The remaining 50% of Borssele is owned by the Dutch utility Delta.

A German firm says it is hopeful it will be allowed to build up to two new nuclear power stations in Cumbria. RWE Npower is close to buying sites on the west Cumbrian coast at Egremont and Millom from private landowners. If government approval is forthcoming, the company says power for up to five million homes could be being produced by 2020.

"Multi-billion pound investments in Britain's energy sector, particularly plans to build nuclear power plants, could be under threat if no political party wins an overall majority at the upcoming elections, an executive from a utility planning to build them said on Tuesday. Opinion polls suggest Britain might be heading for a hung parliament in an election just weeks away, making the investment climate too risky for developers to push ahead with their plans. "It could possibly make some investment inconceivable, for instance nuclear," RWE npower (RWEG.DE) designate chief executive, Volker Beckers, told reporters on the sidelines of the Future of Utilities conference in London."

To judge from the bounce in German energy companies' share prices, you might think Sunday's centre-right election victory means it's springtime for nuclear power in Germany. The reality is more likely to be a longer atomic autumn before ageing reactors are laid to rest. Both the conservatives and the liberal Free Democrats want to prolong the lifetime of Germany's 17 existing nuclear plants, but not build new ones. That will still be lucrative for utilities such as RWE (RWEG.DE), E.ON (EONGn.DE>, Vattenfall [VATN.UL] and EnBW (EBKG.DE), which face an uncertain future as Europe switches to a greener energy mix and EU regulators force them to divest their grids and pipelines.

To judge from the bounce in German energy companies' share prices, you might think Sunday's centre-right election victory means it's springtime for nuclear power in Germany. The reality is more likely to be a longer atomic autumn before ageing reactors are laid to rest. Both the conservatives and the liberal Free Democrats want to prolong the lifetime of Germany's 17 existing nuclear plants, but not build new ones. That will still be lucrative for utilities such as RWE (RWEG.DE), E.ON (EONGn.DE>, Vattenfall [VATN.UL] and EnBW (EBKG.DE), which face an uncertain future as Europe switches to a greener energy mix and EU regulators force them to divest their grids and pipelines.

The German nuclear industry is expecting a revival for their power source, but not so fast, warns the new German government. The bosses of Germany's big utilities were rubbing their hands with glee when it surfaced that Chancellor Angela Merkel's Conservatives would be re-elected in a team with the pro-business Free Democratic Party -- both groups had campaigned in favor of nuclear power, and they were set to scrap the planned phase-out of the controversial energy source. After the election, Juergen Grossmann, the head of utility RWE, urged the new government to swiftly extend the running times of the German reactors. But officials from both parties have warned utilities that nuclear won't be boosted at all costs. "If the utilities refuse our terms and conditions then the nuclear phase out will remain in place," Andreas Pinkwart, a senior FDP official, told German news magazine Der Spiegel.

The German nuclear industry is expecting a revival for their power source, but not so fast, warns the new German government. The bosses of Germany's big utilities were rubbing their hands with glee when it surfaced that Chancellor Angela Merkel's Conservatives would be re-elected in a team with the pro-business Free Democratic Party -- both groups had campaigned in favor of nuclear power, and they were set to scrap the planned phase-out of the controversial energy source. After the election, Juergen Grossmann, the head of utility RWE, urged the new government to swiftly extend the running times of the German reactors. But officials from both parties have warned utilities that nuclear won't be boosted at all costs. "If the utilities refuse our terms and conditions then the nuclear phase out will remain in place," Andreas Pinkwart, a senior FDP official, told German news magazine Der Spiegel.

A multinational consortium of energy companies is paying £70m for land adjacent to Sellafield suitable for building a new atomic power station. Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), Spain's Iberdrola and France's GDF Suez have acquired the 470-acre site, which is the fourth piece of land to be sold by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The consortium plans to build an installation with a capacity of up to 3.6 gigawatts, starting in 2015. The SSE/Iberdrola/GDF group is the third new entrant to the UK nuclear industry after France's EDF bought British Energy for £12.5bn in January, and a consortium of Germany's RWE Npower and E.ON was successful in earlier NDA land auctions in April. SSE/Iberdrola/GDF was also a bidder in previous auctions for land at Wylfa, Oldbury and Bradwell. But the group pulled out after competition became so fierce it ran for six weeks rather than the expected one, and netted the Government a whopping £387m rather than the expected £100m.

A multinational consortium of energy companies is paying £70m for land adjacent to Sellafield suitable for building a new atomic power station. Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), Spain's Iberdrola and France's GDF Suez have acquired the 470-acre site, which is the fourth piece of land to be sold by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The consortium plans to build an installation with a capacity of up to 3.6 gigawatts, starting in 2015. The SSE/Iberdrola/GDF group is the third new entrant to the UK nuclear industry after France's EDF bought British Energy for £12.5bn in January, and a consortium of Germany's RWE Npower and E.ON was successful in earlier NDA land auctions in April. SSE/Iberdrola/GDF was also a bidder in previous auctions for land at Wylfa, Oldbury and Bradwell. But the group pulled out after competition became so fierce it ran for six weeks rather than the expected one, and netted the Government a whopping £387m rather than the expected £100m.

"* Nuclear producers say might study legal ways to fight tax * Eye energy plan in August for new line on life extensions German utilities said on Thursday they might sue the government over a planned tax on nuclear power production after a meeting in Berlin on Wednesday failed to appease them. "We will look into possible legal steps if the tax is imposed without any compensation," a spokesman for E.ON (EONGn.DE) said. A spokesman for RWE (RWEG.DE) said it would consider legal steps, once the tax plan became more concrete, not least because stock market regulations would oblige the company to do so. "But, currently, it does not make sense to issue threats as the plans have not been spelled out in detail," he said."

"Germany's government has proposed a new nuclear fuel tax as part of a wider austerity package, without linking this explicitly to the expected extension of nuclear run-times. According to a statement posted on the government's website, extra profits generated by nuclear plant operators in the wake of higher power prices because of extra CO2 certificates justifies the next tax, which also will contribute to financing nuclear waste storage solutions. From 2011, the government expects Eur2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) a year until 2014 from nuclear plant operators through the planned new measures. E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall Europe, which run Germany's 17 operational reactors, are hoping their plants' life spans will be extended beyond the start of the next decade, when nuclear power should be phased out, according to a still valid law. "

"Britain's new generation of nuclear power stations will not be built if the Government refuses them any more support, a KPMG report will say this week. The study, commissioned by RWE npower, says it is still uneconomic for utility companies to invest billions of pounds in nuclear power. The Government has offered to impose a minimum price on carbon permits - which would raise the cost of fossil fuel generation and make low-carbon nuclear more attractive. It has made a promise not to offer any direct subsidies. KPMG's report will say a carbon "floor price" is not enough for the big utilities to commit large capital investments to the nuclear sector. It will suggest that the Government ought to introduce a variable premium tariff for all low-carbon technologies - from nuclear to renewables - to make sure enough new power generation is built before Britain starts to run short on capacity in the second half of this decade. "

Bulgaria's planned nuclear power plant at Belene on the Danube River is amongst the most dangerous contemplated projects of its kind in the whole world, Greenpeace nuclear analyst Heinz Smital has said, as quoted by Deutsche Welle. According to Smital's warning, Belene was massive and irresponsible gamble, which would only tarnish the reparation of RWE, the German company picked as the strategic investor in the nuclear power plant. Far worse, the German company was playing Russian roulette with people's lives in the entire region of South-Eastern Europe, he said.