News
Publish date: September 6, 2007
News
Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was quoted by Iran’s state broadcaster as saying "good agreements" had been reached with Moscow for the inauguration of the $1 billion Bushehr light-water reactor, without giving details on when it might happen.
But Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency, Rosatom, denied this.
"The talks will continue until all problems that arose this spring are resolved," he told RIA Novosti.
The timing of the power station’s launch is significant as it is viewed by many Western nations as an important element in a nuclear drive which the West suspects is a front for developing atomic weapons. Iran says the programme is entirely peaceful.
In Moscow, Atomstroiexport – Rosatom’s foreign reactor construction wing which is building the plant – also said talks were far from over.
"The negotiations are still under way and we do not yet have results from that so I am not confirming this information," from Larijani, said Atomstroiexport spokeswoman Irina Yesipova, Reuters reported.
Russia has repeatedly delayed the plant which under a previous schedule was due to be started up in September 2007, citing missed payments. Energoprogress, a Russian subcontractor on the Bushehr project, said there is no chance of it coming online before autumn 2008, RIA Novosti reported.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.