France « nuclear-news

Sarkozy focused on promoting France’s nuclear sales

President Nicolas Sarkozy is hoping to use France’s nuclear expertise as a platform to project the country’s political and economic influence around the world

Areva and EDF spat shows nuclear tensions FT.com By Peggy Hollinger: January 19 2010 There has always been some sniping between EDF and Areva, France’s two state-owned nuclear champions…..

Yet there was a degree of hostility in the latest round of guerrilla warfare that was surprising even to the most hardened observers of the two companies. Continue reading →

January 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

France using OECD in promotion for their troubled nuclear industry

many countries are clearly unhappy to see the international organisation linked to what could clearly be interpreted as a public relations exercise on the part of the French to promote their energy and nuclear champions.

French PR vexes OECD FD is South Korea’s weakness FDI.com By Christian Oliver in Seoul January 19 2010 “…..Foreign investors are very clear why South Korea is punching beneath its weight. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and FDI is South Korea’s weakness “…. Continue reading →

January 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, politics international | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

France has always been secretive about nuclear power costs

it is hard to say how successful the French were. The French national utility, Électricité de France, has never been open about what the plants cost to build.

A Nuclear Critic Draws a Lesson from France’s Success The New York Times January 19, 2010 By MATTHEW L. WALD

A new statistical analysis of an almost-secret topic — what it costs to build nuclear reactors in France — may have some lessons for a “nuclear renaissance” in the United States. Continue reading →

January 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear industry: AREVA and EDF locked in dispute

Bitter row throws French nuclear industry into turmoil Times Online January 18, 2010 Adam Sage, Paris

The French nuclear industry is in turmoil as uranium supplies have dried up and the treatment of spent fuel has been blocked amid an increasingly bitter row between the heads of its two main state operators.

EDF, the electricity group that runs 58 reactors in France, said that Areva, the nuclear energy group, had stopped uranium deliveries on January 4 and was refusing to take away spent fuel for reprocessing.

”The transport of combustibles isn’t working at the moment,” Anne Lauvergeon, the chairwoman of Areva, said. Continue reading →

January 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, climate change, France | antinuclear, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

France having a “Nuclear De Naissance”, not “Renaissance”

What’s the opposite of a renaissance, do you think? Nuclear Reaction 15 Jan 2010 De naissance, perhaps. We ask because in France, the supposed cradle of the rebirth of the nuclear renaissance, things seem to be sliding backwards rather than striding forwards.

According to the grid operator RTE, electricity generation from the country’s 58 nuclear reactors fell by 6.8% in 2009, marking a ten year low point. This shortfall meant France was a net importer of electricity for 57 days.

President Nicholas Sarkozyâ’s nuclear bandwagon is said to be leading the world. Just where it’s leading us however is more difficult to say. It seems to be travelling in the general direction away from a bright future of clean and secure energy supplies
Nuclear Reaction – A Greenpeace blog about nuclear power: More Atomic Tales: Uranium with juice at… « Your Green Ability

January 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Design of AREVA’s EPR reactors not shown to be safe

Nuclear Reactors of Unproven Design Planned for California’s Central Valley Environment News Service FRESNO, California, January 6, 2010 (ENS) – At least one nuclear reactor is being planned for California’s agricultural Central Valley but it is already running into grassroots opposition and technical problems. Continue reading →

January 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, safety | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | 1 Comment

Some anxiety in the French nuclear industry

French nuclear sector re-thinks strategy after UAE setback Sydney Morning Herald December 30, 2009 The French nuclear power sector is to re-focus its strategy, notably in Britain and the United States, after losing out to a South Korean consortium on a $US20.4 billion ($A22.99 billion) project in the United Arab Emirates……….. Continue reading →

December 30, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

Anxiety in France about nuclear industry’s future

French nuclear sector re-thinks strategy after UAE setback Sydney Morning Herald December 30, 2009 The French nuclear power sector is to re-focus its strategy, notably in Britain and the United States, after losing out to a South Korean consortium on a $US20.4 billion ($A22.99 billion) project in the United Arab Emirates……….. Continue reading →

December 30, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

French nuclear test victims to jump hurdles to get compensation

Compensation will be decided on a case-by-case basis. Victims are to submit a claim to a committee

France to compensate people who suffered health problems from nuclear tests Google News By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP) – 23 Dec ARIS — France’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law to compensate victims of nuclear tests in Algeria and the South Pacific, a response to decades of complaints by people sickened by radiation. Continue reading →

December 23, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, Legal | antinuclear, France, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear power troubled in extreme weather

French Nuclear Power Struggles in a Cold Snap Business Week by: Carol Matlack on December 16 “…… the system also has shortcomings, as became evident this week when a cold snap sent electricity demand soaring. Continue reading →

December 17, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France | antinuclear, AREVA, climate change, EDF, France, nuclear | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear agency gets euro-billions and a changed nam

France puts into future nuclear World Nuclear News 15 December 2009 ...Next-generation nuclear is to receive a billion-euro boost thanks to a French investment program. Meanwhile the country’s main nuclear research body has been re-branded. Initial details of a spending plan worth €35 billion ($51 billion) were announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday………

…..the organisation is from now on to be known as the Commission of Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy – for which French officials have decided to use the same initials, CEA.

France puts into future nuclear

December 16, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, spinbuster | antinuclear, France, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

France to boost its nuke industry, seeks foreign investors

France seeks foreign cash to grow nuclear sector

PARIS, Dec 14 (Reuters) By Nina Sovich – France pledged 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to support next generation reactor design and said it would seek foreign capital to back its move to the forefront of nuclear energy expansion.

The investment is part of a 35 billion-euro spending plan French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sarkozy unveiled on Monday aimed at improving France’s competitiveness. ………………. The French government, which owns majority stakes in both nuclear reactor maker Areva (CEPFi.PA) and utility giant EDF (EDF.PA), is trying to position France as the market leader in designing and running these power plants…………… To fund these costs, the French government recently asked Areva to sell its electricity business for some 4 billion euros. It has also invited foreign utilities to take stakes in new plants being built in France…………………..

Last month Proglio blasted French energy companies bidding on a contract to build nuclear power plants in Abu Dhabi for its lack of coherence.

December 15, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, climate change, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

AREVA falsifies the facts on nuclear power

For Copenhagen, AREVA makes the false nuclear case Beyond Nuclear 12 Dec 09 In anticipation of the Copenhagen climate conference which began this week, Areva CEO, Anne Lauvergeon, stated during a French radio interview that nuclear power “does not release CO2″ and that it “produces very little waste.”

These remarks were immediately condemned by the leading independent French radiological laboratory -CRIIRAD -who demanded that Lauvergeon take immediate steps to clean up the company’s contaminated African uranium mine sites in Gabon and Niger.

CRIIRAD also reminded Lauvergeon that (1) nuclear releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases, (2) that every stage of the nuclear fuel chain produces large quantities of radioactive wastes for which no safe storage solution has been found and (3) Areva has left populations to live on land or in dwellings contaminated by its activities.

Any decisions made at Copenhagen should not be based on erroneous information emanating from the nuclear industry, CRIIRAD said. From uranium extraction to enrichment, reprocessing and contamination of water supplies, Areva’s nuclear activities leave a virtually permanent trail of highly radioactive waste. The CRIIRAD press release is available in French and contains details of the radioactive contamination caused by Areva’s activities in France and overseas. And see also an article in English from Agence France Presse about Areva’s radioactive contamination in Gabon.

December 11, 2009 Posted by Christina MacPherson | 1 | antinuclear, climate change, global warming, nuclear, radioactive | No Comments Yet | Edit

December 11, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, France, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, Copenhagen, France, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

AREVA secretly continuing nuclear waste shipments to Russia

AREVA resumes nuclear waste shipments from France to Russia Nuclear Reaction 10 Dec 09 France has sent 33,000 tonnes of nuclear waste to Russia for reprocessing since 2006? How much of that has come back to France? A mere 3,090 tonnes. That’s less than 10%. The rest is dumped and abandoned in places like the ‘closed’ city of Seversk, the nuclear waste storage facility in Siberia. Some of it is even stored in open air car parks. This is the fabled nuclear safety we’ve heard all about. Continue reading →

December 10, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, France, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reprocessing, wastes | Leave a comment

AREVA’s money troubles: drive to sell its nuclear reactors

FOCUS: Areva Still Needs Cash Despite T&D Sale
CNN Money By Geraldine Amiel, Dow Jones Newswires 4 Dec 09 PARIS – Despite selling its transmission and distribution business for EUR4.1 billion, French state-controlled nuclear engineering Areva SA ( CEI.FR) still needs billions more of funding to realize its substantial expansion program.

And to come up with the EUR7 billion or so of additional money for investment, Areva may have to sell more of its family silver, possibly as soon as 2010. “Financing remains an issue,” SGCIB’s analyst Gael de Bray said…… Continue reading →

December 5, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, business and costs, France | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment