Latest news with #nuclearreactor
BBC News
14 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Israel strikes unfinished Arak heavy water reactor in Iran
Israeli jets have bombed a nuclear reactor under construction in central Iran during a wave of air strikes on the seventh day of the conflict between the two Israeli military said it targeted the Arak heavy water reactor's core seal to stop it being used for "nuclear weapons development".The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the reactor was hit and that it contained no nuclear fuel from heavy water reactors contains plutonium suitable for a nuclear - which says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful - agreed under a 2015 deal with world powers to redesign and rebuild Arak so it could not produce weapons-grade plutonium. Follow live updates as strikes continueWhat caused the latest conflict, and where could it lead?Video: How close is Iran to a nuclear weapon?BBC Verify: The secretive nuclear site only a US bomb could hitWhat are the risks of bombing Fordo? The following year, the IAEA said Iran had removed Arak's calandria, or reactor core, and rendered it "inoperable".The global nuclear watchdog's latest quarterly report from late May said minor civil construction work was ongoing at the reactor, and that Iran expected it to be commissioned this year and to start operating in Israeli military said Iran's government had "deliberately ordered [workers] not to complete the conversion... in order to exert pressure on the West"."The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development," it aerial footage of the attack released by the military appeared to show a bomb hitting the domed roof of the reactor building and several large explosions from Arak, which about 250km (155 miles) south-west of Tehran and is also known as video broadcast by Iranian state TV showed two large plumes of white smoke rising from the facility. It also cited Iranian officials as saying that the site had been "secured in advance" and that there was "no contamination resulting from the attack".Satellite imagery showed a large hole in the reactor building's visible were what analysts identified as destroyed distillation towers belonging to the adjacent heavy water production plant. The IAEA said it had no information indicating that the heavy water plant was hit. The Israeli military also announced on Thursday that its fighter jets had struck a "nuclear weapons development site" at is the location of Iran's main plant producing enriched uranium, which is used to make reactor fuel for power stations but, if further enriched, can be used in nuclear first wave of Israeli strikes last Friday destroyed the above-ground part of Natanz's Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), where cascades of centrifuges were enriching uranium, as well as electricity infrastructure at the Grossi, the IAEA director general, told the BBC on Monday that while there was no sign of a physical attack on the underground centrifuge hall at Natanz, the sudden loss of power was likely to have severely damaged, if not destroyed, the centrifuges operating buildings were destroyed in a separate attack on Friday on the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre, he said. But very little, if any, damage was visible at Iran's underground enrichment plant at Fordo, he Donald Trump is said to be weighing up whether the US should participate in a strike on Fordo because it is the only country with a conventional bomb large enough to destroy it. Sources told the BBC's US partner CBS News that his mindset was that disabling the facility was necessary. In 2018, Trump abandoned the nuclear deal with Iran, saying it did too little to stop its pathway to a bomb, and reinstated US sanctions that crippled the Iranian retaliated by increasingly breaching the restrictions - particularly those relating to the production of enriched its quarterly report, the IAEA expressed concern that Iran had amassed enough uranium enriched up to 60% purity - a short, technical step away from weapons grade, or 90% - to potentially make nine nuclear Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said on Friday that it was targeting the Iranian nuclear programme because "if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time". He did not provide any Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, said on Sunday that Israel had "crossed a new red line in international law" by attacking nuclear sites. He also insisted that Iran's doctrine was "rooted in our belief in the prohibition and illegitimacy of nuclear weapons".Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, although it neither confirms nor denies Israeli air strikes have also destroyed Iranian military facilities and weapons, and killed senior military commanders and nuclear health ministry said on Sunday that at least 224 people had been killed, but a human rights group put the unofficial death toll at 639 on has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel in response to the air strikes that have killed at least 24 people, according to the prime minister's office.
Bloomberg
10-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
EDF Finds Hints of Stress Corrosion Crack at Nuclear Reactor
Electricite de France SA found indications that 'stress corrosion' cracks may again affect pipes at a nuclear reactor that it fixed fewer than three years ago, risking a revival of tensions on Europe's power and gas markets. The French power giant had to halt part of its atomic plants, which are the backbone of Western Europe's electricity market, to fix cracked pipes in 2022 and 2023, sending energy prices soaring as the repairs coincided with dwindling Russian gas supplies to the continent.
Bloomberg
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Taiwan Shuts Last Nuclear Reactor as Energy Debate Heats Up
Taiwan started to shut its final nuclear reactor on Saturday as a 40-year operating license expired, in a move that could threaten the island's energy security and climate goals. The load-shedding of the final reactor began from 1 p.m. local time and the system will be disconnected at about 10 p.m. before it's safely shut down around midnight, according to a statement from the state-utility Taiwan Power Co. It added that the last reactor at Maanshan nuclear plant accounted for about 3% of Taiwan's total power generation.
ABC News
14-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Nuclear future off the agenda in Port Augusta, as locals turn to renewables and mining
From inside his Port Augusta workshop, Colin Versteeg has built a TikTok following of thousands. The mechanic posts videos of himself at work, telling viewers how he replaces particular parts or musing about the day-to-day of car repairs at his Augusta Highway shopfront. While social media had connected him with the world, Mr Versteeg said attracting people to his town had proven more challenging. Mr Versteeg said travellers must pass through Port Augusta on their way from Adelaide to the Eyre Peninsula, Flinders Ranges and the Northern Territory. That should make it an ideally-placed hub for the transport and tourism sectors — but it has not panned out that way. "Everyone's got to go through Port Augusta but, for some reason, no-one stays here, stops here or builds here," he said. Port Augusta was thrust into the national spotlight last year when it was announced as one of the sites earmarked to host a nuclear reactor under a Coalition election pledge. The proposal drew mixed responses within the town, with some welcoming a potential economic boost and others raising concerns around safety, the environment, and the suitability of nuclear for the grid. While the Coalition has not formally abandoned the plan, its resounding defeat at the recent federal election suggested voters did not embrace the idea. Trevor Paynter and his brothers spent decades working at Port Augusta's coal-fired power station, which was decommissioned in 2016. The region has spent recent years transitioning to renewables with mixed success, and has attempted to replace the jobs that were lost with the closure. Like many regional centres, Port Augusta has recorded a slow population decline in recent decades. Mr Paynter, who supported the nuclear plan, said the region's future success hinged on the employment opportunities on offer. He said a nuclear reactor would have created jobs during its construction phase, but the plant would not require a large workforce once it was up and running. Instead, he suggested Port Augusta was well-placed to play a greater role within South Australia's mining industry. "They've got the infrastructure here for some of the heavy industry," he said. "There's a lot of mining going on around the place, [they could] tap into some of the heavy construction maintenance." Greg Bannon felt the region had scarcely settled one nuclear debate — the now-scrapped proposal to build a low-level nuclear waste dump near Kimba — when the Coalition's plan was put forward. "It was really like a punch in the guts," he said. Mr Bannon, who lives 40 kilometres from Port Augusta at Quorn and had campaigned against the dump, said Port Augusta has had to reinvent itself in the past and could do so again. "We also had a very big railway workshop here, it was a huge employer with lots of apprenticeships," he said. "Railways built everything. So that was a big loss when that was taken away and of course the most recent large employer has been the coal-fired power station." He said the transition to renewables had been more economically beneficial than some gave it credit for — and maintained that Port Augusta's future was still in energy generation. "Renewables have provided jobs," he said. "We've got Sundrop Farm down there, which … grows tomatoes from gulf water that's been desalinated and solar mirrors." He said another potential energy source was tidal energy, which he felt had not been fully explored. On the outskirts of Port Augusta sits the Aboriginal community of Davenport — a small population that local Malcolm "Tiger" McKenzie said had the potential to make a big contribution. The Adnyamathanha, Kuyani and Luritja elder said, to ensure the future prosperity of Port Augusta, a focus must be on training and opportunities for young people. He said that should happen in collaboration with current or future industry. "If we all come together as one because there's a lot of mining companies … then we formed a partnership, joint ventures with those mining companies," he said. "We can create like a training hub, a business hub here in Port Augusta to build those opportunities for Aboriginal people and for all people."
