nuclear-news

France’s AREVA has dangerous plan for undersea nuclear plant at Cherbourg

ecological associations have wasted no time in highlighting the dangers. According to Greenpeace, nothing has been finalised on a technical level or in terms of safety.

Underwater nuclear plant on the Basque coast? – EiTB News World, Frederik Verbeke – 01/25/2011, French naval defence specialists are planning to build a number of small underwater nuclear power plants.

The central reactor, dubbed Flexblue, will be erected in Cherbourg (northeast France) and the first prototype will be ready by 2013. It will be activated some three or four years later. Developed as part of a joint project with Areva, world leaders in nuclear energy, electrics company EDF and the Commission for Atomic Energy, the Flexblue is a mini reactor. Cylindrical in shape, it is 100m long with a diameter of between 12-15m and contains a steam turbine alienator and electrical equipment connected to a central power station…….

While the Director General of DCNS, Patrick Boisier, has assured that Flexblue uses safe technology, ecological associations have wasted no time in highlighting the dangers. According to Greenpeace, nothing has been finalised on a technical level or in terms of safety.

Should there be a nuclear accident “the sea will be destroyed,” says the President of Anti-nuclear organisation Crilan, based in Cherbourg, the planned site of the Flexblue. “The fierce warming-up of the water will cause a massive thermal shock that will destroy sea life.”

Underwater nuclear plant on the Basque coast? – EiTB News World

January 26, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, safety, technology