Energy Blast – Aug 10, 2010

Fires threatening the Snezhinsk nuclear research center, which started last Friday, have been extinguished, as new fears arise over the Mayak nuclear-waste plant in Ozersk.  Rosneft has paid Yukos Capital $400 million in overdue debt, after the Dutch Supreme Court ruled against Rosneft’s right to appeal the sum.  There is some speculation that the company has been approached by India’s ONGC with a proposal to jointly bid for strategic fields in the Arctic north, although according to Rosneft, ‘Indian companies have being interested in joint projects with Rosneft for a long time and we are always communicating.‘  Canada’s geothermal association is excited about the country’s potential to generate clean energy for up to 5 million homes, although, notes Reuters, ‘as things stand, the resource-rich country does not produce a single unit of geothermal energy.‘  The UK’s International Power has announced that it will be taken over by France’s GDF Suez according to a new deal, still yet to be approved by the former’s shareholders, that would make it ‘significantly stronger financially‘.  Sicilian activists are drumming up support for a campaign against deep-sea drilling plans by international companies. ‘We are not against development, but this kind of activity jeopardises the biggest asset we have – the environment.