Energy Blast – March 20th, 2009

Rosatom, the state nuclear company, has signed an atomic energy deal on joint uranium enrichment with Japan’s Toshiba Corp, and is set to receive $1.5 billion in state aid to increase its charter capital.  EU officials are ‘wrangling‘ over the €5 billion allocated to a series of projects designed to improve energy security, although they insist that the total stimulus package for a variety of energy projects must be spent by the end of 2010.  The EU also looks likely to delay a decision on how much it will spend to persuade poorer countries to sign up to a new UN-sponsored climate change pact.  Russia could postpone all offshore projects for the time being due to the financial crisis, as offshore work involves ‘serious capital investments, which will not pay off quickly’, according to Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.  ‘Public fears about the safety of nuclear power could still derail its revival, at least in richer, democratic nations,’ says The Economist.