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The UK will be forced to rely on imported natural gas to meet its emerging shortfall in power generation, with a lack of capacity in the nuclear construction industry meaning there is not enough time to roll out a new generation of nuclear stations, EDF said Friday. The UK is set to lose around 22.5 GW of power generation by 2020 due to closures of ageing nuclear stations and coal-fired plant that do not conform to European emissions regulations.

The UK's renewable energy targets could prove both costly and risky, and nuclear energy is the most reliable viable low-carbon alternative, according to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee. The committee's report - entitled The Economics of Renewable Energy - acknowledges government commitments to increase renewable energy use, but is sceptical as to whether the target of 15% renewables for the UK by 2020, proposed by the European Union (EU), can be met. It also warns that an over-reliance on intermittment power generation options, such as wind energy, could prove both costly and risky in terms of security of supply.

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft agreement with the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan about the joint participation in the International uranium enrichment center in Angarsk, Irkutsk region, Russia.

ABORIGINAL elders from Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory say they have been stonewalled by the Commonwealth over whether their land will be used as a nuclear waste dump. The land was designated as a future dump under the Howard government's controversial Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act (CRWMA), which did not require full consent from affected traditional owners.

A geologist with the New Brunswick Mines Branch in Bathurst has taken exception to media articles concerning unsafe levels of radon and uranium in the Harvey area ("Radon dangers aren't that dire," Telegraph-Journal, May 26). He dismisses any suggestion that well water potentially contaminated with radon or uranium poses a health threat, yet provides no evidence to support his assertion. He also suggests that mortality rates in the Harvey area aren't any different that any other place in the province, but doesn't provide any data to support this claim.

I understand Natural Resources Minister Donald Arseneault to say health risks would occur after exposure of "500 hours," a mere 21 days, of being within five feet of a drill sample with just one per cent of uranium.

Discussion of nuclear power regularly leads to the issue of what to do with the waste created during power generation. One course of action many experts and scientists support is building geologic repositories where the dangerous, long-lived waste can be stored--for instance, inside of a mountain. Throughout the next year, the Bulletin's web-edition will present a country-by-country analysis of how certain nations are proceeding with the disposal of the waste produced by their nuclear power plants and reactors.

The Federal Opposition's resources spokesman David Johnston says the proposed Commonwealth nuclear waste facility will be a small-scale operation for low level waste and it will most probably be in the Northern Territory. Resources Minister Martin Ferguson is expected to receive a report on four possible sites in the Northern Territory before the end of next month.

"Russia is launching a new all-out offensive on the European energy market. President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have spent the past several days on individual tours through Europe, securing new natural-gas contracts and partners for Russian-built pipelines, clarifying Russian claims to oil and gas reserves in the Arctic, and searching for clients ready to pay for Russia's nuclear-plant technology. On April 27, Medvedev concluded a two-day trip to Oslo, where he and Norwegian leaders agreed on a plan to delimit their Arctic maritime border. The decision -- combined with recent melting of Arctic ice -- paves the way for the area to be opened for oil and gas exploration. The deal is a long-awaited achievement for Russia. In 2008, Medvedev called the Arctic "Russia's resource base of the 21st century." Some energy experts estimate that up to 25 percent of the planet's oil and gas reserves lie beneath the Arctic's Barents Sea. "

Ontario, Canada's economic hub, announced Monday the suspension of its plan to build two new nuclear reactors, citing concerns about vendor Atomic Energy Canada Limited's viability, and pricing. The provincial government said AECL's bid to build the two new nuclear power plants at its Darlington station, 43 miles (70 kilometers) east of Toronto, by 2018 was the only one to meet its terms and objectives. The project was to be the first step in the modernization of Ontario's aging nuclear fleet. France's Areva and Westinghouse Electric Company, a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba, had also bid on the project in February.

The federal government said late Monday it had received a report it commissioned on the best way to break up and sell Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. - but refused to release the report's recommendations, citing "commercial confidentiality considerations." Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt announced last spring that the government was prepared to break up AECL, a Crown corporation, into two parts. One part would include the business responsible for selling and building CANDU reactors, the large powerful machines that provide electricity at plants in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. The government signalled its intention to a seek a private sector partner to buy all or part of the CANDU business.

The federal government said late Monday it had received a report it commissioned on the best way to break up and sell Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. - but refused to release the report's recommendations, citing "commercial confidentiality considerations." Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt announced last spring that the government was prepared to break up AECL, a Crown corporation, into two parts. One part would include the business responsible for selling and building CANDU reactors, the large powerful machines that provide electricity at plants in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. The government signalled its intention to a seek a private sector partner to buy all or part of the CANDU business.

Get set for a new government carbon tax designed to subsidise the nuclear industry. The Guardian's Tim Webb says that figures he obtained show the additional levy would add £44 to an annual electricity bill of £500 - that's a nearly 10% increase

Get set for a new government carbon tax designed to subsidise the nuclear industry. The Guardian's Tim Webb says that figures he obtained show the additional levy would add £44 to an annual electricity bill of £500 - that's a nearly 10% increase

The Western media reported last week on how the German company Urenco shipped nuclear material to Siberia, where the highly toxic waste was stored in containers in the open air. The company has stopped deliveries and will store the material with higher standards in Germany in the future. The radiation warning sign was so small that few passers-by took note in the commuter rail station in Kapitolovo, Russia. Fifty-six steel canisters were sitting there on a summer day three years ago. Just a stone's throw away, people were waiting for trains to take them to downtown St. Petersburg.

The Western media reported last week on how the German company Urenco shipped nuclear material to Siberia, where the highly toxic waste was stored in containers in the open air. The company has stopped deliveries and will store the material with higher standards in Germany in the future. The radiation warning sign was so small that few passers-by took note in the commuter rail station in Kapitolovo, Russia. Fifty-six steel canisters were sitting there on a summer day three years ago. Just a stone's throw away, people were waiting for trains to take them to downtown St. Petersburg.

The independent body said the huge price of tackling climate change will eventually be overtaken by the cost of remaining dependent on fossil fuels, which are becoming more difficult and expensive to extract. It estimates that Europe's annual energy bill will more than double to $500bn (£300bn) by 2030, as the oil price is likely to reach $100 per barrel by 2015 and $190 by 2030. Publishing its annual World Energy Outlook, the IEA was also forced to defend its reputation as the world's leading provider of statistics on fossil fuels, following claims that it exaggerated oil resources under pressure from the US.

The independent body said the huge price of tackling climate change will eventually be overtaken by the cost of remaining dependent on fossil fuels, which are becoming more difficult and expensive to extract. It estimates that Europe's annual energy bill will more than double to $500bn (£300bn) by 2030, as the oil price is likely to reach $100 per barrel by 2015 and $190 by 2030. Publishing its annual World Energy Outlook, the IEA was also forced to defend its reputation as the world's leading provider of statistics on fossil fuels, following claims that it exaggerated oil resources under pressure from the US.