Bulgaria to restart nuclear reactor in face of gas row

October 6th, 2009 Israel scrambles warplanes over nuclear facilityJERUSALEM — Israel's air force scrambled fighter jets Tuesday after a small civilian aircraft flew into restricted airspace near the country's heavily guarded and secretive Dimona nuclear reactor, security officials said Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the Dimona nuclear reactor.

September 30th, 2009 Israel: New Iranian reactor requires new sanctionsJERUSALEM — Israel's defense minister won't rule out a military strike on Iran after the discovery of a secret Iranian nuclear facility. Ehud Barak says severe sanctions must be imposed on Iran following the revelations of the clandestine uranium enrichment plant near the city of Qom.

August 3rd, 2009 SOFIA - Bulgaria plans to replace the lev with Europe's single currency, the euro, in 2012 or 2013, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov told daily 24 Chasa Monday. "We have a chance in the last year of the mandate to introduce the euro," Djankov said.

July 19th, 2009 Italian co-driver dies in rally crash in BulgariaSOFIA, Bulgaria — Rally organizers say an Italian co-driver has died after a race car he was in went off the road and slammed into a tree. Rally Bulgaria director Dimitar Agura said Flavio Gugelmini died on the spot after the Peugeot 207 car driven by Brian Lavio of Switzerland hit a tree.

July 14th, 2009 Bulgaria agrees Caspian gas linkSOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgaria and Greece agreed on the construction of a pipeline that will allow Bulgaria to import natural gas from the Caspian Sea region, energy officials said Tuesday. Bulgaria's state-owned Energy Holding on Tuesday signed an agreement with Greek natural gas monopoly DEPA and Italy's Edison SpA on setting up a company to construct and operate the pipeline, and a second company to supply and make commercial use of the natural gas.

June 10th, 2009 Russia agrees to take nuclear waste from SerbiaBELGRADE, Serbia — Russia agreed Wednesday to take 3 metric tons of spent fuel from a closed Serbian nuclear reactor to ensure the radioactive waste does not end up in terrorist hands, officials said. Thousands of fuel rods are now stored in poorly guarded storage areas just east of Belgrade.

May 23rd, 2009 AMMAN - The Jordanian government has received an offer from Russia's Rosatom Corporation for building a research nuclear reactor in the country, Chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) Khalid Touqan said Saturday. The tender was made under the provisions of the nuclear cooperation agreement which Jordan signed with Russia in Moscow Friday, Touqan said in an interview with the official Petra news agency.

April 20th, 2009 BEIJING - Officials from Russia, India and China at a nuclear energy conference here confirmed Monday their countries' interest in developing nuclear technology including, a fast neutron reactor. Alexander Agapov of Russia's nuclear power corporation Rosatom, said Russia was planning 'a gradual transition from 2020 to a new technological platform on the basis of fast neutron reactors with a closed fuel cycle'.

April 20th, 2009 BEIJING - North Korea must be regarded as a nuclear power, the head of the UN's international nuclear watchdog said Monday. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also said in Beijing, four days after North Korea forced the agency's inspectors out of the country, that North Korea could restart its main nuclear facility within months.

April 20th, 2009 UN says NKorea could restart nuclear facilityBEIJING — The head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says North Korea could restart its nuclear facility within months, but that he hopes negotiations on halting Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions can be revived. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed El-Baradei said Monday "it could be a question of months" when asked how soon North Korea could restart its nuclear facility.

April 16th, 2009 VIENNA - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced its inspectors left North Korea Thursday, after Pyongyang reacted to a UN Security Council condemnation by telling them to return to Vienna. The arrival of the four nuclear experts in Beijing marked the end of a 19-month period in which the IAEA observed that North Korea's nuclear facilities remain turned off, as agreed in a six-party deal that includes the US.

April 15th, 2009 VIENNA - North Korea told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Tuesday to stop monitoring its nuclear facilities and asked the agency's inspectors to leave the country as it wants to restart its nuclear programme, IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire said in Vienna. 'The inspectors have also been asked to leave the DPRK at the earliest possible time,' Vidricaire said, referring to the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

April 15th, 2009 VIENNA - North Korea informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Tuesday that it would stop all cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog immediately, IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire said. IAEA inspectors are present in North Korea to monitor that the country's nuclear installations remain dismantled and turned off.

February 5th, 2009 MOSCOW - Iran's nuclear reactor built by Russia at Bushehr will be switched by the end of this year, the head of Russia's state nuclear energy agency said Thursday. 'We are moving according to schedule,' Sergei Kiriyenko told reporters in a Kremlin briefing.

January 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Soon after signing a pact with the US-based Westinghouse Electric to build nuclear reactors recently, engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has signed a similar agreement with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), the company announced Thursday. The new agreement, however, is subject to final approval of a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement between the governments of India and Canada.