nuclear-news

Nuclear industry getting anxious about anti nuclear politics in France

Uranium and the French threat [to the nuclear and uranium  industries] 9 News, 30 Nov 11 France will hold presidential elections in two rounds in April and May followed by parliamentary elections in June. Polls currently suggest Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande would knock off incumbent president Nicholas Sarkozy if elections were held today.

Assuming presidential polls also reflect parliamentary preferences, Deutsche suggests the nuclear industry should be rather concerned about a policy agreement between the Socialist Party and the French version of the Greens. The agreement, which is yet to be formerly signed, is to undertake to close 24 of France’s 58 nuclear reactors by 2025. Two would be closed immediately and a moratorium would be placed on any new construction outside of the one plant currently being built.

In the scheme of things, suggests Deutsche, such a move would be a lot more significant than Germany’s decision to wind down nuclear power made earlier this year after the Fukushima disaster. It would likely also prompt a nuclear rethink across all of the European Union, with Belgium an obvious first candidate for change…..

Deutsche will watch political developments closely given the potentially “profound” implications for uranium prices on the one hand and gas prices on the other, …. http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newscolumnists/greg/8381663/uranium-and-the-french-threat

November 30, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, politics