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French Polynesia at UN presses case for compensation for nuclear tests

French Polynesia goes to UN over nuclear compensation  http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/307569/french-polynesia-goes-to-un-over-nuclear-compensation, 29 June 16, A legislator from French Polynesia has appeared at the United Nations pressing the territory’s case for compensation over nuclear testing.

Richard Tuheiava appeared before the UN Committee on Decolonisation, in an effort to bring the issue to international attention.

The French Government has compensated just a handful of French Polynesians who suffered from exposure to radiation after thirty years of tests in the territory’s vicinity.

Mr Tuheiava said France should compensate the territory as well as individuals.

“The fact is since the nuclear testing most of the diseases were cancer, leukaemia. Most of the diseases were as a result of the nuclear testing, so we collectively also put a request for the state of France, the colonial power to not only compensate directly the veterans, but also compensate this fund, this public health care fund.”

Richard Tuheiava said he has serious doubts about whether anything will come from the negotiations, but at least the truth is being exposed on a global stage.

Earlier this year during a visit to the territory, the French president Francois Hollande acknowledged that the weapons tests had an environmental impact with consequences for people’s health.

He promised to revisit the way compensation claims are being treated.

June 29, 2016 Posted by | Legal, OCEANIA | Leave a comment

Japan’s nuclear industry reels as court upholds injunction to halt reactors

judge-1flag-japanJapan court upholds injunction to halt reactors in blow to nuclear power industry, Reuters,  TOKYO | BY OSAMU TSUKIMORI  17 June 16, A Japanese court on Friday upheld an order to keep two reactors at the Takahama nuclear plant closed, operator Kansai Electric Power said, leaving efforts to get a struggling nuclear industry up and running in limbo.

The court decision, upholding a petition from residents living near the plant concerned about safety, keeps the legal battle center stage in a struggle by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government to restore atomic power five years after the Fukushima disaster.

The Otsu District Court on March 9 ordered Kansai Electric, Japan’s second-biggest utility, to shut down the reactors in Fukui prefecture west of Tokyo, in the country’s first injunction to halt an operating nuclear plant.

The nuclear industry has only recently started to get reactors in a nuclear sector, which used to supply about a third of the country’s power, back online amid widespread public opposition after the melt downs at Fukushima in 2011.

Friday’s decision denied the utility’s attempt to temporarily halt the shutdown order……….

Amid mounting public scepticism over nuclear safety, local residents have lodged injunctions against nuclear plants across Japan…….http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-nuclear-court-idUSKCN0Z306R

June 17, 2016 Posted by | Japan, Legal | 2 Comments

Bulgaria must pay Russia over cancelled nuclear project, says court.

Court orders Bulgaria to pay Russia over cancelled nuclear project: minister  http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-bulgaria-russia-arbitration-idUKKCN0Z213A ,  Jun 16, 2016  

An arbitration court has ruled that Bulgarian state energy firm NEK should pay nearly 550 million euros (437.70 million pound) in compensation to Russia‘s Atomstroyexport for a cancelled nuclear power project, Bulgaria’s energy minister said on Thursday.

“NEK received the court’s decision late last night. It is still not handed down officially. In the next days, NEK will approach Atomstroyexport over the decision,” Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova told reporters.

Atomstroyexport had sought more than 1 billion euros at the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration against NEK over the cancellation of the Belene nuclear power plant it had been contracted to build.

NEK teamed up with Atomstroyexport to build two 1,000 megawatt reactors at Belene, on the Danube River at the border with Romania, in 2006.

Sofia abandoned the project in 2012, after it failed to attract investors for the 10 billion euros ($11 billion) scheme and also came under pressure from its Western allies about its energy dependence on Moscow.

Petkova said the court has ruled that NEK should cover the funds the Russian state company had spent to produce equipment for the project, but has rejected claims for additional works and damages from lost profits.

Bulgaria is currently extending the lifespan of its two 1,000 Soviet-made reactors at its Kozloduy nuclear power plant and is looking for an investor to build one more reactor at the same site.

June 17, 2016 Posted by | Bulgaria, Legal, Russia | Leave a comment

Taiwan: environmentalists take legal action against nuclear restart


Activists are planning to sue premier for offense contrary to public safety, China Post, 

justiceflag-TaiwanCNA  June 6, 2016, TAIPEI –– Environmentalists blasted the first reactor of First Nuclear Power Plant Sunday as a very dangerous facility, and said they will sue the premier for an offense against public safety after he revealed that he might allow the reactivation of the reactor.
Anti-nuclear campaigner Lin Jui-chu (林瑞珠) said there are more than 40 used fuel rods still left in the reactor facility since it was shut down for repair in late 2014.

“One small glitch and Taiwan will be gripped by a disaster beyond redemption,” Lin warned.

Also, although the electricity supply has been tight over the past few days due to the hot weather, all the hydroelectric power plants and solar power generators operated by the state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) remained idle during the period, according to Lin.

She accused Taipower of creating a fake issue to get people to believe Taiwan is being threatened by a risk of power insufficiency. Officials of Taipower were unavailable for comment.

Expressing strong opposition to the government’s plan to reactivate the reactor at the First Nuclear Power Plant, situated in New Taipei’s Shimen District, Lin said she will file a lawsuit against Premier Lin Chuan (林全) in the near future for causing danger to public safety.

Lin Jui-chu was among a group of environmentalists, who filed a lawsuit last week against Economics Minister Lee Chih-kung (李世光) and Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) over the proposal.

Prime Minister Lin Chuan said Sunday that he is considering having the reactor reactivated after it was shut down for repair 17 months ago, on the premise that it is safe enough to be used……

Echoing Lin Jui-chu, Green Consumers’ Foundation chairman Jay Fang (方儉) argued that Taiwan has no shortage of electricity, but has the “fake phenomenon of power insufficiency.”

Taiwan’s overall power generation capacity is 48,000 megawatts (MW), but the actual output has only reached 35,000 MW so far this year, Fang said, implying that the government is failing to run the country’s power generating facilities properly.

“If Lin Chuan does not see (the problem), he is not qualified to take the helm of the government,” Fang said. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2016/06/06/468441/Activists-are.htm

June 6, 2016 Posted by | Legal, Taiwan | Leave a comment

South Africa’s Energy Minister again misses legal deadline to file nuclear procurement papers for the High Court

Joemat-Pettersson misses third deadline to file papers in nuclear case http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/energy/2016/06/03/joemat-pettersson-misses-third-deadline-to-file-papers-in-nuclear-case
BY CAROL PATON,  ENERGY Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has missed a third deadline to file papers to oppose an application by the SA Faith Communities Environmental Initiative (Safcei) and Earthlife Africa to have the proposed procurement of nuclear energy declared unconstitutional.

The two groups filed papers in October asking the High Court in Cape Town to rule that government had failed to meaningfully consult the public on the nuclear procurement.

They will also argue that the inter-governmental agreements on nuclear procurement signed with Russia, France, China and the US are illegal as they were not preceded by a determination in the government gazette by the minister.

Safcei and Earthlife Africa said on Friday that this was the third deadline that Joemat-Pettersson had missed in as many weeks.

Government failed to respond by the May 13, and asked for an extension until  May 30. Earthlife and Safcei then instructed their lawyers to issue a rule 30A notice, which gave the government until the May 31 to respond.

“On Tuesday June 1, our attorneys were advised that the answering affidavit has been drafted, is currently being reviewed by the Office of the Presidency, and that the State Attorney hopes to be in a position to file it on or about June 7,” they said in a statement.

If this latest deadline is missed, the Safcei/ ELA legal team will approach the courts to force government to comply with the legal time frames. Failing this they will ask the courts to strike out the government defence and for their application to be unopposed.

“We believe that this consistent failure to comply with the legal time frames points to an unaccountable government,” says Liz McDaid, Safcei spokeswoman.

June 4, 2016 Posted by | Legal, South Africa | Leave a comment

U.S. Court of Appeals upholds Nuclear Fuel Storage Rule

Appeals Court Upholds Nuclear Fuel Storage Rule  https://morningconsult.com/alert/appeals-court-upholds-nuclear-fuel-storage-rule/ ASHA GLOVER   |   JUNE 3, 2016  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday upheld a rule that allows the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to store spent nuclear fuel at power plants.

The three-judge panel denied a request from four states, including New York, to review the rule, arguing the NRC failed to comply with obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act. The case is not the first time the court has had to address nuclear waste storage, according to the Friday decision.

“The petitioners contend that the NRC did not consider alternatives to and mitigation measures for the continued storage of spent nuclear fuel, miscalculated the impacts of continued storage, and relied on unreasonable assumptions in its environmental impact statement,” Senior Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle wrote in the court’s opinion. “Because we hold that the NRC did not engage in arbitrary or capricious decision-making, we deny the petitions for review.”

June 4, 2016 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

USA Department of Energy wants to delay Southy Carolina MOX hearings

justiceFederal government wants delay in MOX court hearing, Augusta Chronicle, By Walter C. MOXJones
Staff Writer May 26, 2016 Lawyers for the U.S. Depart­ment of Energy filed more arguments Wednesday for why a federal judge should delay a hearing on South Carolina’s lawsuit over delayed removal of nuclear materials.

Judge J. Michelle Childs scheduled a hearing for June 30 in Columbia, but the Energy Department’s lawyers say there’s too much to do before then. Besides, they want her to rule first on their motion to dismiss the case altogether.

South Carolina filed suit in February asking for the $100 million in penalties that a federal law assesses the agency for not removing 2 metric tons of plutonium from Savannah River Site. The law was to ensure construction remained on schedule for the mixed-oxide fuel plant on the site, but the builders are still late……..

Construction on the MOX facility is behind schedule and about $8 billion over budget, by some critics’ estimates. The Obama administration says that’s why it wants to shut the program down and use a different method of disposing of 34 metric tons of plutonium…….http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2016-05-26/federal-government-wants-delay-mox-court-hearing?v=1464299788

May 30, 2016 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

South Africa’s govt coy about its secret nuclear deal with Russia

secret-dealsflag-S.Africaflag_RussiaGovt misses deadline to open up alleged Russian nuclear deal http://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/124645/govt-misses-deadline-to-open-up-alleged-russian-nuclear-deal/ By  May 24, 2016 The government must respect the rules and commit to following the timeframes, leading environmentalists said after the state once again failed to submit answering affidavits in the court case regarding its nuclear energy agreement with Russia.

Earthlife SA and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (Safcei) claim that Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson acted unconstitutionally in not submitting the government’s nuclear deal with Russia to Parliament.

Following the Department of Energy (DoE) and Joemat-Pettersson’s failure to meet the original May 13 deadline to submit answering affidavits, the State Attorney on Monday said they could also not meet the 20 May Rule 30A notice deadline, a rule that prohibits further delays.

“Unfortunately the first and the second respondents are still not in a position to file answering affidavits and are still in the process of drafting same,” the State Attorney’s office said in a letter to the environmentalists on Monday.

“As already pointed out the respondents have difficulty in finalising their answering affidavits due inter alia to the bulk of the founding affidavit, as supplemented, the complexity of the application as well as the importance thereof for all parties concerned. The incomplete draft already runs to more than 200 pages.

“The first and the second respondents will endeavour to have their answering affidavits finalised in terms of the provisions of the notice … by Tuesday, 31 May 2016.”

Safcei spokesperson Liz McDaid said on Monday that “it is not unexpected that government once again fails to meet their own deadlines”.

“But what is of concern is that government lawyers are even not committing to the legal rule 30a notice deadline, but only going to ‘endeavour’ to meet it.

“If the country is to function as a democratic state under the rule of law, then the state must respect the rules and commit to following the timeframes, which are set out under the law,” she said.

In October last year, Earthlife Africa JHB and Safcei filed court papers challenging the constitutionality of the intergovernmental framework agreements the DoE signed with Russia, China, South Korea and the USA on the country’s planned nuclear development.

Safcei said it waited for Joemat-Pettersson to provide the records of the decisions that are being challenged. “In that period, Safcei and Earthlife Africa generously allowed the government extensions, which eventually meant that government only provided the requisite documents on February 16 2016.”

Legal documents indicate that South Africa did sign a nuclear deal with Russia, claim the environmentalists in their affidavit.

Here, they said “the Russian agreement was entered into unlawfully, but makes (an) internationally binding commitment to buy a fleet of nuclear reactors from Russia”.

From the state law adviser’s explanatory memorandum that was prepared in November 2013 but only revealed recently to Safcei/ELA, “it is evident that the Russian agreement is to build reactors and an enrichment plant”, the group said.

They said other subsequent agreements would “cover the details of how it is to be financed, not if it would go ahead”. The court case appears to be stalling the country’s bid to launch its request for proposals for the 9.6GW nuclear procurement programme. This was supposed to occur on April 1.

May 25, 2016 Posted by | Legal, South Africa | Leave a comment

Chelsea Manning appeals conviction in WikiLeaks case

 http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/crime/2016/05/19/chelsea-manning-appeal-wikileaks/84585376/

David Dishneau, The Associated Press10:35 a.m. EDT May 19, 2016 National security leaker Chelsea Manning is appealing her 2013 court-martial conviction for sending classified material to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks while serving as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq.

Manning’s attorney, Vincent Ward, said the documents were filed Wednesday with the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Chief Deputy Clerk John Taitt said the document must undergo a review for classified information before it can be publicly released. Ward said he’ll wait until the review is complete before commenting.

Manning is serving a 35-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The transgender soldier, formerly known as Bradley Manning, was convicted of espionage and other offenses for sending WikiLeaks more than 700,000 digital files including battlefield logs, diplomatic cables and video clips.

May 23, 2016 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

After 26 year battle for justice, Rocky Flats residents get some kind of deal from nuclear weapons plant operators

Deal reached between homeowners, weapons plant operators, Albuquerque Journal By Dan Elliott / Associated Press May 19th, 2016 DENVER — Thousands of homeowners have reached a $375 million settlement over their claims that plutonium releases from a nuclear weapons plant in Colorado damaged their health and devalued their property, officials said Thursday.

A federal judge must approve the agreement before it officially ends the 26-year legal battle between the residents and two corporations that ran the Rocky Flats plant for the federal government.

Perched on a wind-swept mesa west of Denver, Rocky Flats manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads until it closed in 1989 because of safety and environmental concerns. It’s the most prominent of Colorado’s Cold War relics, which also included a nerve gas manufacturing site east of Denver.

Few details of the settlement were available. The lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Merrill Davidoff, said the agreement has been submitted to the judge overseeing the case but no documents have been made public…….

The lawsuit took years to go to trial. In 2006, a jury found the companies had damaged nearby land and hurt residents’ health. In 2008, a judge ordered the companies to pay a combined $925 million.

An appeals court overturned the verdict and the award on Sept. 3, 2010, saying the homeowners hadn’t proved that plutonium releases from the plant had hurt their health or their property. The court said a decline in property value can’t be considered damage.

The case had been appealed to the Supreme Court, but the appeal has been dropped.

After a $7 billion cleanup that took 10 years, most of the 8-square-mile property became a wildlife refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The most heavily contaminated area remains off-limits to the public. http://www.abqjournal.com/777588/deal-reached-between-homeowners-weapons-plant-operators-3.html

May 21, 2016 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Boston Edison Company, now known as NSTAR Electric Company sues US Dept of Energy

DOE Sued for $40M Over Nuclear Waste Storage, Courthouse News Service By LORRAINE BAILEY CN), 19 May 16  — Blaming the government for not settling on a nuclear-waste storage scheme, a nuclear energy company has filed a federal complaint to recover $40 million.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 required the U.S. Department of Energy to accept and dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste by Jan. 31, 1998, in return for fees paid by owners of such waste.
It also effectively made it mandatory for nuclear utilities to enter into contracts for such disposal.
When the Department of Energy failed to meet the 1998 deadline, however, utilities began to incur substantial costs for storage and management of the waste accumulating at reactor sites.
By 2006, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims had found that the Department of Energy partially breached its contractual obligations to Yankee Atomic Electric Co., Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co., and Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co., all of which are now decommissioned, to the tune of $235 million

Boston Edison Company, now known as NSTAR Electric Company, operated the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Massachusetts, until 1999 when it sold the plant to Entergy Nuclear General Company.
It sued the U.S. in the Court of Federal Claims Wednesday over its continued obligation to pay for highly reactive waste storage.
Boston Edison says it paid Entergy $40.3 million to cover the cost to store spent nuclear fuel through 2012, the expected decommissioning date for the plant.
That fuel would have been disposed of by the government had it kept its pledge.
But now, Entergy has stated that operations at Pilgrim will continue through 2019, and there is still no government plan for a permanent repository for high level nuclear waste.
Most nuclear power plants continue to keep their reactor waste on-site in steel and concrete casks……. The Department of Energy has expressed the urgency need to find a permanent repository, but the Congress has taken no action since abandoning the Yucca Mountain project.

Boston Energy seeks damages for breach of contract, and breach of the covenant of good faith. http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/05/19/doe-sued-for-40m-over-nuclear-waste-storage.htm

May 21, 2016 Posted by | Legal, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Emotional plea from Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in support of U.S. sailors, victims of radiation

Tearful Koizumi backs U.S. vets suing over 2011 nuclear disaster THE ASAHI SHIMBUN CARLSBAD, California, 19 May 16, –Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi broke down in tears as he made an emotional plea of support for U.S. Navy sailors beset by health problems they claim resulted from radioactive fallout after the 2011 nuclear disaster.

More than 400 veterans who were part of a mission called Operation Tomodachi to provide humanitarian relief after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami filed a mass lawsuit in California against Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. They are seeking compensation and an explanation for their health problems.

Koizumi, 74, responded to a request from a group supporting the plaintiffs and flew to the United States to meet with 10 veterans.

At a news conference here on May 17, Koizumi said: “U.S. military personnel who did their utmost in providing relief are now suffering from serious illnesses. We cannot ignore the situation.”……

Some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit were crew members of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which anchored off the Tohoku coast to provide relief along the battered coastline.

Theodore Holcomb, an aviation mechanic on the flattop, was tasked with washing down U.S. helicopters that had operated in areas with high radiation. He was later diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. He died in 2014 at age 35.

The Department of Veterans Affairs later cut off a study into the causal relationship between his exposure to radiation and his illness.

His best friend in the Navy, Manuel Leslie, 41, now is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit on behalf of Holcomb.

Leslie said he just wants the truth to come out for his friend.

Another crew member, Ron Wright, 26, worked on the deck. After finishing his shift one day, he was forced to remove his clothes after a high radiation reading. Subsequently, he developed a swelling of the testicles and underwent surgery four times after he returned to the United States. However, the pain was so intense that he had to rely on painkillers and sleeping pills.

A military doctor told him there was no relationship between his illness and exposure to radiation.

Wright said he was never given protective clothing or iodine during the mission. He also said he had no knowledge of radiation at the time.

According to the ship’s logs and the testimony of former crew members, sailors aboard the Ronald Reagan may well have been exposed to radiation as the carrier passed under a radiation plume that was generated by the Fukushima accident. In addition, the carrier used desalinated seawater for drinking and showers by crew members……… This article was written by Masato Tainaka and Ari Hirayama. http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201605190065.html

May 20, 2016 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Lawsuit on Bikini Atoll nuclear tests

Bikini-Atoll-bombRevisiting Bikini Atoll nuclear tests  Japan Times, 15 May 16 A recent lawsuit filed by former crew members and relatives of deceased crew members of fishing boats operating near the area where the United States conducted a series of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific in 1954 — seeking compensation from the Japanese government over its questionable behavior at the time and in subsequent years — carries historical significance. More than six decades after the hydrogen bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, beginning with a test explosion code-named Castle Bravo on March 1, 1954, the lawsuit will help shed fresh light not only on the scope of radiation exposure for Japanese fishermen but also on whether the Japanese and U.S. governments acted properly to deal with the consequences of the fallout from the tests.

Even before the court proceedings begin, the omission on the part of the Japanese government seems clear — its failure to properly examine and keep track of the potential damage to the fishermen’s health and nondisclosure for decades of the records of their radiation exposure.

In connection with the 15-megaton Castle Bravo test, which was over 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, the tragedy of the tuna trawler Fukuryu Maru No. 5, also known as the Lucky Dragon, is widely known. The fallout from the test fell onto the vessel for a few hours, causing its 23 crew members to suffer nausea. By the time they returned to their home port of Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, two weeks later, they had developed serious symptoms of radiation sickness, and the radio operator, Aikichi Kuboyama, died six months later. The Fukuryu Maru incident sowed the seed for civic anti-nuclear movements in Japan.

The islanders suffered a great deal. The H-bomb tests contaminated many areas of the Marshall Islands so badly that they became unlivable. The tests destroyed the culture of the islands and irradiated thousands of people. In the years after the tests, the U.S. told evacuated islanders that it was safe to return. But many returning residents were exposed to contaminated water, air and food due to the false assurance.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the first legal action seeking state compensation over the 1954 H-bomb tests, are former crew members of fishing boats other than the Fukuryu Maru that were operating in the area around the time of the tests and family members of fishermen who have since died. Most of the fishing boats were from Kochi Prefecture……

With the lawsuit, the plaintiffs will try to bring to light the government’s omission, including its failure to conduct follow-up health surveys on the crew members and to pay compensation to those who fell ill due to causes linked to the radiation exposure. Several of the former fishermen died of cancer — although it will be difficult to establish the causal relationship because so much time has passed. At least the court proceedings should shed light on how the government acted when it negotiated the settlement with the U.S. over the Fukuryu Maru incident — as well as on why the records of the radiation exposure suffered by other Japanese fishermen were kept undisclosed for so long and why no follow-up checks on the fishermen’s health were made. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/05/15/editorials/revisiting-bikini-atoll-nuclear-tests/#.VzjsOTV97Gg

May 16, 2016 Posted by | Japan, Legal, OCEANIA | Leave a comment

European law mean sit is illegal for France’s govt to fund EDF’s Hinkley nuclear project

justiceflag-EUFrance funding Hinkley C ‘would be illegal’ under EU competition rules say Greenpeace and Ecotricity http://www.cheddarvalleygazette.co.uk/France-funding-Hinkley-C-illegal-EU-competition/story-29158662-detail/story.html By Cheddar Valley Gazette   April 24, 2016 The European Commission is ‘almost certain’ to block the French Government spending billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to make sure the Hinkley C nuclear power station project is completed.

That was the view of a coalition of West environmentalists today, who said if the French president Francois Hollande was to plunge £3 billion into Hinkley C, it would breach European state aid rules.

The European Union forbids states using taxpayers’ money to invest in projects which favour one company over another – and a new report revealed this morning by a leading London law firm says that would clearly be illegal under EU competition rules.

EDF, the firm planning to build a third nuclear power station in west Somerset, is majority-owned by the French Government anyway, but Greenpeace, Stroud-based renewable energy firm Ecotricity and the Green Party’s South West MEP, Molly Scott Cato, have all said they would challenge that decision, and ask the European Commission to block any state investment by France.

EDF is putting in half the £18 billion Hinkley C project cost, two Chinese nuclear energy firms are investing a third, but attempts by EDF to find that shortfall – one-sixth, or around £3 billion – have failed amid fears the project would be uneconomic.

The firm has gone to French Government ministers to ask for state backing, and that is ‘expected’ to be ratified and the project get the go-ahead in the next couple of weeks.

But the environmentalists who have long campaigned against Hinkley C said this morning that would breach EU competition rules, arguing the French Government should not be allowed to use taxpayers’ money to compete against energy providers in this country who receive no such help.

Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder, said his firm would consider legal action to stop Hinkley C. “It’s time for everyone to realise that we’ve reached the end of the road for Hinkley Point – it’s not going to happen,” he said.

“Illegal state aid is one thing, and we’ll work with Greenpeace to challenge that if it happens, but it’s not just financial issues, there are technical problems with Hinkley Point too – EDF are yet to build one of these reactors and their first two attempts are, between them, 16 years late and billions over budget.

“Our government needs to change its stance on green energy, which powered a quarter of the country last year and could do so much more if the sector received even a fraction of the economic and political support given the nuclear industry,” he added.

Greenpeace have yesterday wrote to energy minister Amber Rudd and chancellor George Osborne warning the ministers not to proceed with the project unless and until the French state support has been notified to and approved by the EU Commission.

“The only way Hinkley can be kept alive is on the life support machine of state aid,” said Greenpeace boss John Sauven. “EDF, if it is to stay in business, needs a new vision which is not looking backwards. And the UK Government needs to stop penalising the UK renewable energy industry in favour of propping up an ailing state owned nuclear industry in France.

“Globally, the nuclear market is shrinking year by year overtaken by the huge surge in renewable energy. The UK should be a haven for renewable energy investment given the massive potential for wind, solar and tidal to cost effectively meet our energy needs,” he added.

The legal opinion is given by Jon Turner QC, Ben Rayment and Julian Gregory, three eminent competition and EU law barristers from Monckton Chambers.

It sets out how the French government’s reported refinancing plans for EDF are likely to be illegal under EU law unless and until they are approved by the European Commission.

The European Commission’s investigation of state aid takes around a year, and it is doubtful that approval would be given.

“The numbers for the Hinkley deal have never stacked up and it is clear that the commercial case for this white elephant is dead,” said Green MEP for the south west, Molly Scott Cato.

“We have now a political battle where the stakes for both the UK and France are just too high to admit failure. But we cannot let this override EU rules on state aid or fair competition.”

“With EDF close to bankruptcy and serious questions over the legality of state aid for the project the French government and the French President are showing themselves to be totally irresponsible. The Board of EDF must put the interests of its shareholders and employees first and avoid committing economic suicide by rejecting a final investment decision,” she added.

EDF has consistently denied claims it was benefiting from illegal state aid, and robustly defended the legal action from Austria that the British Government’s agreement to pay EDF double the current electricity price for the energy Hinkley C will produce.

April 25, 2016 Posted by | France, Legal | 1 Comment

Employee’s legal threat hangs over EDF’s U.K. Nuclear Project

justiceflag-franceEDF Unions Threaten to Go to Court Over U.K. Nuclear Project, Bloomberg, April 22, 2016

  • Employee representatives ask to be consulted before decision
  • Trade unions say they’ll sue if not consulted in advance

  • Electricite de France SA’s unions are threatening to take the company to court if employees are not consulted in advance on a decision concerning a proposed 18 billion-pound ($25.8 billion) U.K. atomic plant project.

    EDF’s workers committee, which includes representatives from the biggest unions, met near Paris and voted to take legal action should the company fail to consult employees on Hinkley Point, according to a statement Thursday. The project is key to EDF earnings and has prompted disagreements between management and unions, it said.

    “We ask that the workers’ committee is consulted before any decision by management or the board,” the committee said. If that didn’t happen then “the committee would be forced to take legal action to have any decision linked to the Hinkley Point project suspended or annulled.”

     The threat marks the latest attempt by workers to delay a decision, given concerns about EDF’s finances amid falling power prices across Europe. Union FO has already threatened to call for a strike. EAS, an association of EDF employees holding the company’s shares, is asking the stock market regulator to require that the French government, which owns 85 percent of EDF, repurchases shares at the initial public offering price…..http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-21/edf-unions-threaten-to-go-to-court-over-u-k-nuclear-project

April 25, 2016 Posted by | employment, France, Legal | Leave a comment

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