Spying by French nuclear company?
GOING NUCLEAR
UN Dispatch Morning Coffee – 21 April 2009
<!–
–> Lindsay Beyerstein – April 21, 2009 – 6:30am
– A judicial inquiry in France is trying to determine whether the state-run electricity generation and distribution company, EDF, broke the law by paying spies to infiltrate anti-nuclear groups across Europe.
A security officer testified that he organized surveillance of Greenpeace and other groups starting around 2002, but did not seek to hack into their private networks. This is a particularly sensitive issue in France as memories are still fresh from the 1985 sinking of Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior by French intelligence officers. Brits likely perked up at the news too, as EDF just bought British Energy, the UK’s nuclear operator. Link
Dirty Plans of France to Nuke the US – Starting With DC!
Dirty Plans of France to Nuke the US – Starting With DC! OpEd News 8 April 09 by Cathy Garger French radioactive disasters at home render an abysmal nuclear safety record – and now they are being helped to bring the same disasters here to the US!………the ASN, (Autorite de Surete Nucleaire) the French nuclear safety authority, yesterday came out with a report which states that 5 out of 19 of their nuclear power plants are “underperforming.” …………
the EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) design has never before operated anywhere in the world. Judging from the nuclear track record of the French state, the operation of this over-sized, unproven reactor will unquestionably ensure the further toxic and radioactive contamination of the MD-DC-VA area, surrounding the nation’s capital with deadly discharges – thermal, toxic, and radioactive – into the already heavily oxygen-depleted, Chesapeake Bay.
Despite many local citizens’ disdain for France‘s ambitious and greedy visions for the US, however? The far greatest sin is absolutement not France’s blatant disregard for the certain worsened contamination of the United States of America – demonstrated by its callous disregard shown both its own environment and own people………………………. the blame and focus must instead be placed squarely where it belongs… in the very laps of the US (s)elected officials themselves, as manifested by their enthusiastic and unanimous dedication to these experimental double-size nuclear monsters, originating with the radioactive French “christening” of the greater Washington, DC area.
……………Five (5) out of nineteen (19) French “underperformers” equates to a rate of 26 percent of nuclear power plants identified as sub-standard performers. In other words, France itself admits its own nuclear power plants have a measly 74% acceptable performance (think “safety”) rate……………………….It’s important to realize the French nuclear invasion is being welcomed with open arms by those in power in our very own government. AREVA’s big plans to take a colossal slice of what I’ve termed the US “nukuler insurgency” pie has been accomplished by AREVA’s Congressional lobbying efforts to the tune of over $5.2 million in the years 2005 to 2008 alone.
Sarkozy in Niger to back deal
Sarkozy in Niger to back deal news 24.com 27/03/2009 (SA)
Nairoby/Niamey – French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Niger on Friday to back a deal by French firm Areva to exploit uranium deposits in the north of the West African country.
………………Niger is Africa’s biggest uranium producer and a vital source for Areva………………..However, mining has caused problems in the north, where nomadic Tuareg are fighting the government, saying they have remained poverty-stricken despite the mineral uranium riches.
Strong local opposition to storage site in eastern France
Strong local opposition to storage site in eastern France*
Reuters, Thursday March 26 2009
Areva says hopes to find site in exchange for jobsBy Muriel Boselli and Marie MaitrePARIS, March 26 (Reuters) – Public opposition to storage sites for highly radioactive waste could derail France’s prized nuclear energy programme, the scientific adviser at French nuclear energy group Areva told Reuters on Thursday.France, where 58 nuclear reactors produce 80 percent of the country’s electricity, has not found permanent underground storage with the capacity to bury nuclear energy waste it has generated in the past three decades and the waste it will produce in future.
The highly radioactive waste generated so far is currently stored in above ground facilities at Areva’s nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in La Hague on the northwestern coast of Normandy.
Under French law, Areva will have to bury the waste in a permanent repository by 2025.
French nuclear authorities are considering permanently storing the waste, 500 metres below ground, near Bure in eastern France ……….
……………. But the project is being fiercely resisted by the Bure population, which is calling for a moratorium and a national public debate on radioactive waste management in France………..
……. “A general opposition (to underground storage) in France would eventually kill the nuclear (industry),” Bertrand Barre told Reuters in an interview at Areva’s headquarters.
AREVA – France’s nuke power poster child has a money melt-down
France’s nuke power poster child has a money melt-down
THE FREE PRESS Harvey Wasserman March 19, 2009 The myth of a successful nuclear power industry in France has melted into financial chaos. With it dies the corporate-hyped poster child for a “nuclear renaissance” of new reactor construction that is drowning in red ink and radioactive waste.Areva, France’s nationally-owned corporate atomic fa�ade, has plunged into a deep financial crisis led by a devastating shortage of cash.Electricite de France, the French national utility, has been raided by European Union officials charging that its price-fixing may be undermining competition throughout the continent.Delays and cost overruns continue to escalate at Areva’s catastrophic Olkiluoto reactor construction project in Finland.
Areva has admitted to a $2.2 billion, or 55%, cost increase in the Finnish building site after three and a half years. The Flamanville project—the only one now being built in France—is already over $1 billion more expensive than projected after a single year under construction.In 2008, France’s nuclear power output dropped 0.1%, while wind generation rose more than 37%.Attempts to build new French reactors in the US are meeting stiffened resistance.
And the definitive failure of America’s Yucca Mountain nuke waste dump mirrors France’s parallel inability to deal with its own radioactive trash.Widely portrayed as the model of corporate success, reactor-builder Areva is desperately short of money. As it begs a bailout from its dominant owner, the French government, Areva’s mismanagement and overextension in promoting and building new reactors has wrecked its image in worldwide capital markets.
According to Mycle Schneider, Paris-based author of “Nuclear Power in France—Beyond the Myth,” Areva shares have plunged by over 60% since June 2008, twice as much as the CAC40, the standard indicator of the 40 largest French companies on the stock market…………….
…………….At the French heart of its “renaissance,” the nuclear clock is winding down, not up. Time is running out for a radioactive technology that, after fifty years, remains unable to muster a sustainable level of private financing, shows no real promise of ever paying for itself, and has now plunged into deepening financial chaos.
French state faces quandary with Areva
International Herald Tribune
By Marie Maitre Reuters
March 16, 2009
The French state faces a multibillion euro funding shortfall at the nuclear power company, Areva, and needs to take bold steps to keep it at the forefront of a global revival in nuclear power.
The government could raise hundreds of millions of euros by selling Areva’s financial investments or bringing in new investors, people with direct knowledge of the matter say.
But analysts said that such moves would not suffice to finance Areva’s medium-term ambitions.
………………… Areva needs €2.7 billion for capital expenditure in 2009 and another €7 billion for investments between 2010-2012. The money is for modernizing or building new production facilities, financing research and development for new nuclear reactors, and expanding its mining activities.
Areva also needs cash to finance the process of licensing its new-generation nuclear reactors in countries like Britain and the United States. Areva also needs at least €2 billion to buy back Siemens’s 34 percent stake in a reactor joint venture, under a previous agreement.
………………. observers said it might be a tough act to balance, adding that it was impossible to know whether the government would, in the end, opt for bold measures or the bare minimum……………….
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/16/business/deal.php
How France Sees Its Nuclear-Powered Future
The lack of real debate here until recently, critics say, was less a vote of public support than a failure in the French political system. “Nobody asked the French people what they thought,” remarks Jean-Philippe Desbordes, author of Atomic Park, a book critical of the French program. “France is much less democratic than the United States.”…………………………In January, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the construction of a new-generation European pressurized water reactor, or EPR, in Penly in northern France………………………….The decision to build the Penly plant was quickly challenged by environmentalists, who say high levels ofradioactivity from the new plant will pose a serious health risk to workers and that nuclear waste will have to be stored above ground for a longer period than has been the case to date. “Despite the French government’s global marketing of its flagship European Pressurized Reactor as cheap and safe,” the environmental group Greenpeace said in a statement, “nuclear energy is rapidly becoming the most expensive way to produce electricity, and its highly radioactive waste poses an ever- increasing problem.”
In announcing the construction of the Penly plant, the second in the series, the French government is hoping that building the reactor will persuade potential foreign clients to import the technology. Although no EPRs are now operating, two are currently under construction, one in Finland at Olkiluoto and the other in Flamanville in France’s Normandy region. The Finnish reactor has faced serious construction problems, including flawed pipes and waterlogged concrete, that have delayed its original April 2009 completion date by three years and led to cost overruns of 50 percent……………….
…………….The downside, according to critics, is that in the case of the French program, the government simply decided to trivialize the risks by placing the nuclear power plants near where people live, thereby giving a false sense of security as the installations came to be seen as part of the landscape.
France’s nuclear wastes
Obama overturns war on science Rolling Stone 9 March 09 “…………………………………………………….There is a reason why France can get away will looking like it has clean nuclear energy. France ships the waste to Russia (big security risk for France). The U.S. can’t do that. Few states will take the waste and few states even want a reactor in their back yard. …………………………
Obama Overturns War on Science : Rolling Stone : National Affairs Daily
AREVA in trouble?
Areva May Sue Siemens on Nuclear Deal With Rosatom, Figaro Says
By Francois de Beaupuy
March 4 (Bloomberg) — Areva SA may sue Siemens AG because it agreed to create a venture with Rosatom Corp. to design, build and operate nuclear power plants, Le Figaro said, citing people close to Areva it didn’t name.
Siemens, which decided earlier this year that it would sell its 34 percent stake in a nuclear reactor building venture with Areva, must respect a clause that prevents it from competing with the French company on nuclear issues until 2020, the newspaper said.
Did France’s Secrecy Cause a Nuclear Submarine Collision?
TIME by Eben Harrell 17 Feb 09
A collision between a British nuclear-powered submarine carrying multiple nuclear warheads and a French nuclear submarine armed with a similar payload may have been the result of lack of communication between France and NATO nations, according to a former British submarine commander whose revelations were partially corroborated by an official at the French navy.
Sometime on Feb. 3 or 4, the British HMS Vanguard and France’s Le Triomphant collided in the mid-Atlantic. The accident probably happened because the two submarines were not aware of each other. NATO operates a traffic control system that alerts allied nations to the deployment zones of friendly submarines. The system is designed to avoid collisions. But because France is not part of NATO’s military command structure, it does not provide information on the location of its mobile nuclear arms to that system,………………………….French are particularly secretive due to their position outside NATO’s command structure. And past policy-level discussions suggest a concern over a lack of communication…………………………………While the intersection of two sonar-equipped nuclear submarines in a vast ocean may seem an unlikely event even without communication, there are environmental anomalies in the Atlantic that make a collision more likely……………………………………
…………..had a nuclear reactor been damaged on either boat, it could have poisoned the crew and spread radioactive waste for miles across the Atlantic………………………
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1879777,00.html?iid=tsmodule
British and French nuclear subs collide
Sydney Morning Herald February
Robin Millard
17, 2009
The collision between French and British nuclear submarines was a hugely improbable one-off, but it was no surprise that they did not detect each other, experts said on Monday.
For one nuclear-powered, nuclear arms submarine to collide with another one in the middle of an ocean was unprecedented and sheer bad luck, they said……………
…………..The RUSI expert said despite the close NATO and European Union ties between Britain and France, the two countries would be very reticent to share information on what their nuclear submarines were up to.
Areva Fails to Block Television Exposé
Beyond Nuclear 14 Feb 09 Areva was unsuccessful in its attempt to block the transmission of a television expose that revealed high levels or radioactive contamination around France’s abandoned uranium mine sites. The program – Uranium, the scandal of contaminated France – aired on France 3 and featured the findings of the CRIIRAD independent laboratory led by Dr. Bruno Chareyron.
TV show reveals radioactive risk
TV show reveals radioactive risk The Connexion February 14, 2009 FEARS that radioactive material taken from France’s old uranium mines has been used in construction have been raised by a TV documentary.
According to investigators for the programme Pièces à Conviction (Incriminating evidence), there are many sites where radioactive material is a potential health risk including schools, playgrounds, buildings and car parks.
Very little uranium is now mined in Europe, but France carried out mining from 1945 – 2001 at 210 sites which have now been revealed by IRSN, the Institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety on its website……………………Problems stem from millions of tonnes of reject rock which contained small amount of uranium which are still stocked at some of the sites along with 50 million tones of waste from extraction factories.
The documentary on France 3 also revealed that some reject rock has also been used as construction rubble in areas used by the public, that there have been some radioactive leaks into the environment from waste and that some “rehabilitated” areas where building has been taken place had been contaminated with radon.
Reject rock has been used at sites including carparks, buildings, roads and even schools and children’s playgrounds, the programme said.
Volunteers with Geiger counters have found that some sites where it was used have worryingly high radiation levels.
The programme makers said they had “opened a national debate on uranium waste in France”.
Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo has admitted that uranium extraction had little state regulation and has called on the firm which was responsible for most of the sites, Areva, to “do its job” and to take better safety measures regarding the waste.
Before the programme went out Areva had lodged a complaint about it with the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel concerned that its intention was to make accusations against the firm.
The Connexion – The Newspaper for English-Speakers in France
EDF profits plunge in 2008 as nuclear expansion continues
EDF profits plunge in 2008 as nuclear expansion continues
Business News
Feb 12, 2009, Paris – State-owned French energy supplier EDF saw its profits fall by nearly 40 per cent in 2008 as it continued to expand its nuclear energy division abroad, the company said on Thursday……………………. Investors were no doubt put off by the plunge in profits and bid EDF shares down by 9.11 per cent, to 32.31 euros, in late morning trading on the Paris Bourse.
France’s Nuclear Failures
France’s Nuclear Failures Greenpeace 3 Feb 09 Hazardous waste, illegitimate and dangerous new reactors and a diversion to the solutions to climate change – here’s why France’s picture of nuclear energy is just a ‘great illusion’…Despite the French government’s global marketing of its flagship European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) as cheap and safe, nuclear energy is rapidly becoming the most expensive way to produce electricity, and its highly radioactive waste poses an ever-increasing problem.
Greenpeace has recently uncovered evidence that nuclear waste from the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) – the flagship of the French nuclear industry – will be up to seven times more hazardous than waste produced by existing nuclear reactors, increasing costs and the danger to health and the environment.
This alarming evidence was buried away in the environmental impact assessment report from Posiva, the company responsible for managing waste at the world’s first EPR under construction at Olkiluoto in Finland, and in EU-funded research……………………………………. No appropriate waste facilities exist – or are even being planned – in Finland, France or any of the countries considering buying the EPR (including the UK, the US, Canada and India). In Finland, plans for burying the nuclear waste that are awaiting approval are simply inadequate for preventing interim and long-term health risks, and will pass on huge financial liabilities to future generations…………………………..The Global Chance report shows:
- how France’s nuclear programme fails to rise to the challenges of climate change and energy security;
- how France has not benefited economically from their ‘all electric, all nuclear’ approach
- how nuclear power is liable to suffer serious accidents – whether due to system failure, natural disaster or deliberate attack
- how no satisfactory solution has been found for the management of long-term waste; and
- how France contributes to proliferation, which remains a major risk for global security.
France’s Nuclear Failures | Greenpeace International
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
1 This Month
petition to oppose the rapid increase of space-military industry threatening Jeju Island and the region.
[Petition by April 19th (KST)] Stop the joint military-Hanwha Systems-Jeju Provincial Government Sea Launch!
World Nuclear Power. Reactors 1951-2026, 75 Years of Nuclear Power.
Interactive Map– https://dv.worldnuclearreport.org/
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- April 2026 (211)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (268)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (257)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
- May 2025 (261)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 