South Korea awarded UAE nuclear power contract

A South Korean consortium has been awarded a contract worth some $40bn (£25bn) to build four nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates.

The group, led by the Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco), beat bids from a US-Japanese group and a French firm.

South Korean officials said the deal was the biggest single contract the country had ever won abroad.

Though the world's third largest oil exporter, the UAE says only nuclear power can meet its energy demands.

The nuclear reactors should all be in operation by 2020, by which time demand for electricity in the UAE is expected to have more than doubled. The first is scheduled to begin supplying power in 2017.

As well as Kepco, the winning consortium includes Samsung, Hyundai and Doosan Heavy Industries, as well as US firm Westinghouse and Japan's Toshiba.

The South Korean president's office described the deal as "the largest mega-project in Korean history".

It also represents that first time the country has exported a nuclear power plant, according to the Associated Press news agency.

South Korea first introduced atomic power in 1978 and now has 20 nuclear reactors in operation.

BP oil refinery workers in Texas win damages of $100m

A US jury has awarded $100m (£62m) in damages to 10 workers who said a leak at a BP oil refinery in Texas in 2007 had made them sick.

The source of the leak at the refinery south of Houston was never identified and environmental agencies reported no evidence linking it to the refinery.

BP concluded that any toxic substance had come from outside.

But lawyers for the workers argued the odour had come from a sulphur recovery unit at the plant.

They described BP as a serial polluter.

The Texas jury agreed with the lawyers' case and imposed punitive damages.

A hundred workers at the refinery were sent to hospital after being overcome by a toxic substance and a further 90 claims are to come.

The workers said their injuries had included dizziness and sore throats, with one employee passing out after inhaling the substance, but none suffered long-term damage to their lungs, their lawyer said.

'Utterly unjustified'

BP said it was outraged by the verdict reached by the jury in Galveston, and would appeal.

"The verdict, and punitive damages award in particular, is utterly unjustified, improper and unsupportable," it added.

Tony Buzbee, a lawyer for the workers, said his clients were pleased with the jury's decision, adding that he had approached BP before the trial and had offered to settle for $10,000 for each worker.

BP had rejected the proposal, he said.

"They tried to minimise it, attack the credibility of the workers," Mr Buzbee said.

"They simply would not admit that they had released something."

The refinery was the site of a 2005 explosion that killed 15 people and injured 170, the worst US industrial accident since 1990.

It has a history of fires, chemical releases and worker deaths, The Associated Press reports.