nuclear-news

How France Sees Its Nuclear-Powered Future

How France Sees Its Nuclear-Powered Future It expands the use of nuclear energy at home and seeks to increase nuclear-technology sales abroad USNews.com By Eduardo Cue   March 10, 2009 PARIS—……………………..Opponents are warning that the new nuclear plants are too costly and will produce more dangerous waste that contains significantly higher levels of radioactive material. …………………..
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.

March 11, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, politics | Leave a comment

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

February 4, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, politics | 1 Comment