nuclear-news

France in bind over the soaring cost of nuclear safety

Given voter concern over the dangers of nuclear energy, the French government can
do little but enforce new nuclear safety regulations and other governments across the world will also need to follow suit…...

Europe’s reliance on nuclear energy a costly obstacle to green power The National Tony Glover, 14 Jan 12,  Summary Eco-money France’s €10bn bill is a stark warning to those countries now debating whether to opt for traditional or sustainable sources of power.

A decision by France to spend billions of euros making its vast network of ageing reactors safe is once again making environmentalists question the future of nuclear energy.

“This is more evidence that nuclear energy is commercially, as well as environmentally, unviable in the long term. We have always opposed nuclear energy on grounds of cost as well as safety. That nuclear energy is far costlier than alternative energy is something we have
always argued,” Graham Thompson, a spokesman for the environmental
lobby group Greenpeace, says.

French nuclear authority ASN has warned that France and its nuclear
energy supplier EDF will have to find roughly €10 billion (Dh46.74bn)
to ensure the nation’s vast spider’s web of 58 nuclear reactors spread
across the country are made safe.

France, which relies on nuclear energy for almost 80 per cent of its
power, is having to comply with an international raising of
nuclear-power-generation safety standards after last year’s nuclear
reactor disaster in Fukushima, Japan. There is concern that many of
France’s reactors, about 34 of which are coming up to 30 years old,
will require increasingly expensive maintenance in the future.

Although none of the French reactors need be shut down immediately,
they require a huge investment if they are to be made safe in the
event of a natural shock on the scale of Fukushima. But French Prime
Minister François Fillon has promised to ensure that nuclear operators
will conform to all of the safety requests made by ASN. Given voter
concern over the dangers of nuclear energy, the French government can
do little but enforce new safety regulations and other governments
across the world will also need to follow suit……
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/energy/europes-reliance-on-nuclear-energy-a-costly-obstacle-to-green-power

January 14, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, safety