MONTREAL, Sept.

By DOUGLAS HAMILTON EDF'S GBP12bn plan to buy British Energy Group lay in ruins yesterday after the nuclear generator's board rejected the French utility's latest offer.

French electricity utility EDF has announced the opening of a European energy efficiency research center at its Renardieres site in the department of Seine-et-Marne in France, in partnership with Ecole des Mines, Ecole Polytechnique Federale and EDF's Italian subsidiary Edison.