In 2011, the kingdom announced plans to build 16 nuclear power reactors by 2030.
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The fuel needs enriching to just under 20% (power reactors run on only 3.5%).
France remains committed to nuclear power, which provides nearly four-fifths of its electricity, and exports both electricity and nuclear-power reactors.
CERA, a consultancy, calculates that 31 countries have commercial nuclear-power reactors today.
Once the MOX fuel assemblies have been irradiated in commercial power reactors, the plutonium can no longer be readily used for nuclear weapons.
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The United Arab Emirates is also building nuclear power reactors, four Korean light water rectors, in full transparency and with full support from the international community.
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He also said the government is pushing ahead with Rokkasho as part of a national energy policy that seeks to reduce overall plutonium stockpiles by processing them into the fuel to power reactors.
Japanese officials have said the plutonium would strictly be used for power generation, even as just two of Japan's 50 power reactors are running because of the safety concerns raised by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.
As part of my job, I reported alarming inadequacies: in one case high-grade equipment (ASME III, class 1) was operated in nuclear power reactors with no accepted safety file, regardless of a previous accident and a half-dozen failures in achieving acceptable design results.
Supporters of nuclear power say reactors provide reliable, zero-carbon-emission energy the country needs to avoid dependency on natural gas.
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Although about half of Sweden's power comes from reactors, it has never been at ease with nuclear technology.
Engineers restored power to some reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant over the weekend, although new concerns about food contamination appeared after radiation levels were detected in tap water near the complex.
The so-called stress tests will be performed on Europe's 143 working reactors and other atomic installations and will consider a range of factors, including seismic activity, flooding, and power loss at reactors.
When running, the plant's twin reactors can power 1.4 million homes.
So who has the power to restart nuclear reactors in Japan?
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Initially there was hope of saving the reactors to generate power again after the crisis had passed.
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The North Anna Power Station has two nuclear reactors and is reportedly operating on four diesel generators to maintain cooling operations.
The D-1 fault runs beneath the No. 2 reactor, and the government doesn't allow nuclear-power plant operators to build reactors directly above active faults.
Proponents of nuclear power, who say their reactors produce far fewer greenhouse gases than even the cleanest natural gas plants will also argue their case.
Earlier in the day Hitoshi had driven north to the crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, where the reactors are feared to be leaking radiation and at risk of an outright meltdown.
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Maehara really cannot oppose restarting the nuclear reactors in light of the urgent need for power and the cost of both permanently shutting down all reactors (they have no spent fuel repository yet) and gearing up alternative sources.
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Countries with nuclear power typically build large-scale reactors 15 to 20 km away from heavily populated residential areas.
Meanwhile, crews restored backup power, but problems keeping the reactors cool forced plant officials to take the drastic step of flooding them with seawater.
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In October, they sold their interest in Horizon Nuclear Power, which was to build reactors at sites near Anglesey and Bristol, to Japan's Hitachi.
Now Southern Co. is trying to revive it with a pair of reactors set to come online in 2016 and 2017 next to two older reactors at its Vogtle power station, 30 miles south of Augusta.
Hitachi is buying Horizon Nuclear Power, which was intending to build reactors on existing sites at Wylfa, Anglesey, and Oldbury, near Bristol.
Ukrainian opposition leader Vyacheslav Kirilenko submittted a bill to parliament to ban completion of two new nuclear reactors at the Khmelnitskaya nuclear power plant, set to go online in 2016.
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Although the outlook for Japanese exporters is looking better, authorities need to find a way to cool the reactors at the troubled nuclear power plant and prevent the further spread of radiation before the outlook for the Japanese economy can get much better.
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Gov. Cuomo has campaigned relentlessly to shut down the reactors, which are capable of producing 2, 060 megawatts of electric power, regardless of whether the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission grants the reactors 20-year extensions in 2014 and 2016.
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