Oil-Rich Abu Dhabi Plans Nuke Plants

(NEWSER) - Video of a member of the UAE’s royal family brutally torturing an Afghan salesman threatens to sink a nuclear trade deal between the UAE and the US, the Times of London reports. Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a brother of the UAE president, is shown beating the trader and running him over with a truck. Those close to the Obama administration say the video is directly responsible for stalling the deal. More»

Abu Dhabi could have electricity program by 2017

(NEWSER) - An Arab state may be on the fast track to developing nuclear power—with the help of the US, the Wall Street Journal reports. American experts have been jetting to Abu Dhabi in recent few months to support the UAE’s nuclear aspirations, which could be speedily realized by 2017 under a treaty signed by George W. Bush just before he left office. But while Obama’s calls the program a “model for the world,” other lawmakers remain concerned. More»

Georgia plant gets approval to build two

(NEWSER) - It's a milestone for the nuclear energy industry: The feds today gave their blessing to a Georgia utility company to build two new reactors, the first such approval in 30 years, reports CNN . Southern Co. and its partners will build the reactors in Waynesboro, Ga., about 170 miles east of Atlanta, at a plant that already has two operating reactors. That will make the Vogtle plant the biggest nuclear complex in the US when they're up and running by 2017, notes the New York Times . More»

Federal judge says only federal government can regulate nuclear safety

(NEWSER) - Vermont is the only state with a law allowing it to have a say over whether a nuclear plant's license should be renewed, but a federal judge has slapped down Vermont's attempt to withhold such a renewal. The judge ruled that Vermont Yankee, the state's only nuclear plant, can continue to operate after its original 40-year license expires in March, the New York Times reports. The judge decided that Vermont was trying to regulate nuclear safety, something only federal regulators—who recently granted the plant a license to operate for another 20 years—are allowed to do. More»

Reactor would give country cause to enrich uranium

(NEWSER) - Satellite photos reveal construction at North Korea’s main atomic complex, suggesting the country is fulfilling its plans to build a light-water nuclear reactor, the AP reports. The images, from a private Washington institute, show at least two cranes and an under-construction rectangular structure, and come amid reports that work is in progress. Such reactors are, in theory, for civilian energy—but having one gives Pyongyang a reason to enrich uranium. More»