France’s electricity consumers face curbs as EDF struggles with problems and shutdowns
French electricity consumers face curbs on their electricity supplies following shutdowns at four of EDF’s nuclear power plant. France is highly reliant on its nuclear power plants, obtaining around 70 per cent of its electricity from nuclear on an annual basis. This, along with other various examples of nuclear unreliability, must seriously question the British Government’s determination to plough on with its programme of new nuclear power plant. The four nuclear plants have been shut down ‘after the detection of anomalies in the emergency injection circuits‘. France’s Grid Operator, RTE, has warned consumers that limitations on supplies may be necessary soon. France has been struggling with its nuclear sector and EDF’s efforts to build another nuclear plant at Flamanville have been hobbled by very long construction delays and massive cost overruns. 100% Renewables 31st Dec 2021 https://100percentrenewableuk.org/french-electricity-consumers-face-brownouts-and-even-power-cuts-after-nuclear-power-plant-shutdowns |
Nuclear authorities dismiss a massive tritium leak from nuclear reactor as unimportant. But should they?
Nuclear: do our power plants release too much tritium? This fission residue is not very radiotoxic. But the discharge standards in waterways are more permissive in France than in Japan. With the holiday season and the covid epidemic, the event has gone almost unnoticed. But it is reported in detail on the site of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). Between November 25 and December 8, 2021, at the Tricastin site, around 900 liters of effluents containing tritium infiltrated the soil, causing “abnormal radiological activity”. More precisely, the measurements carried out on site made it possible to detect a peak in radioactivity of 28,900 Becquerels per liter on December 12. Taking up this information, the Mediapart site mentions a major radioactive leak. After ASN inspection, the event was nevertheless classified at level 0 on the international nuclear events scale. How to explain this difference in perception? L’Express 28th Dec 2021 https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/sciences/nucleaire-nos-centrales-rejettent-elles-trop-de-tritium_2165111.html |
Long and difficult dismantling of EDF’s graphite technology nuclear reactors to continue
The dismantling of EDF’s graphite technology nuclear reactors, which are
particularly long and difficult to deconstruct, can continue, the Nuclear
Safety Authority (ASN) said on Monday in a press release.
Le Figaro 27th dec 2021
With 15 nuclear reactors shut down, France faces risk of power cuts
With nuclear production at its lowest in January, RTE admits the risk of
voltage drops. French nuclear production will reach a historically low
level in January. RTE accepts the possibility of brownouts or calls to
reduce consumption. Even, as a last resort, power cuts. L’Usine Nouvelle 31st Dec 2021
Electricity: the availability of French nuclear power plants at its
lowest. Out of 56 reactors, 15 are shut down, which can pose a problem in
the event of extreme cold, underlines the manager RTE, who has raised his
level of vigilance.
Le Monde 30th Dec 2021
Massive leak of tritium at France’s Tricastin nuclear power plant.
A massive leak of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, occurred earlier this month at the Tricastin nuclear power plant, one of the oldest in France, when subsequent radiation levels recorded in groundwater below it reached 28,900 becquerels per litre.
Both the plant’s operator, EDF, and the French nuclear safety watchdog, the ASN, insist that the spill has
been contained. But, as Jade Lindgaard reports, despite that claim it appears inevitable that that the radioactive effluent will pollute the local environment.
Mediapart 28th Dec 2021
France’s oldest nuclear power plant, shut in 1985, still highly radioactive
“You can’t see radioactivity, you can’t feel it, so people don’t care”: in Brennilis, nuclear power is no longer operating. Shutdown in 1985, the monts d’Arrée power plant was the first in France to begin dismantling.
The reactor block of the Finistère nuclear power plant in Brennilis remains one of the last vestiges of the gigantic installation, in operation from 1967 to 1985. Despite the decades, its dismantling has not yet been completed. It is in this building, however, that the most radioactive elements of the infrastructure are stored, a prototype of a heavy water reactor cooled with carbon dioxide, never reproduced in France afterwards.
Le Monde 28th Dec 2021
France to lead the European Council – a worrying situation as Macron cosies up to polluting corporations, especially nuclear.
In January, France will take on the rotating Presidency of the Council of
the EU for six months. This Presidency will have a particular resonance
both in France itself, coinciding as it does with Emmanuel Macron’s
re-election campaign, and at the European level, with many critical pieces
of legislation and policy on the line.
It is therefore worrying that this
Presidency has been prepared in close collaboration with the French
corporate sector, and is setting a policy agenda that strongly reflects
business demands.
In the name of climate action, the French Government is
pushing for more public support and funding for controversial industries,
including a renewed push for the nuclear sector. For the sake of nuclear
energy, the French Government appears willing to undermine the integrity of
the European Green Deal and other EU policies on the climate crisis, for
instance with the demand that gas is seen as ‘green’ in the Green
Taxonomy which will direct financial flows accordingly, and generally
through the prioritisation of industry-pushed ‘techno-fixes’ instead of
structural changes to make our lives more sustainable.
Corporate Europe 20th Dec 2021
https://corporateeurope.org/en/under-influence-distorted-priorities
France’s Environmental Authority requires a list of all the problems encountered in building the Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor
An inventory of incidents on the EPR required according to the
Environmental Authority. In its latest opinion, the Environmental Authority
recommends a listing of all the problems encountered during the
construction of the EPR, as well as an update on the various solutions
provided.
France Bleu 23rd Dec 2021
Science & Avenir 23rd Dec 2021
https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/nature-environnement/nucleaire-l-autorite-environnementale-reclame-plus-d-informations-sur-flamanville_160059
Le Figaro 23rd Dec 2021
France short of electricity, as it shuts down 2 nuclear reactors due to safety concerns
In the face of a continent-wide energy
crisis, France has resorted to using fuel oil to meet its power needs in
order to avoid a blackout. Despite the fact that Paris is usually a major
power exporter, it has recently increased electricity imports and even
burned fuel oil to “keep the lights on” in the country.
This energy shortage has arisen as a result of EDF Energy’s decision to shut down two
nuclear power plants due to safety concerns. At its Civaux nuclear power
station, the state-owned energy company discovered flaws in a safety
system’s pipes. It also stated that another plant, which used the same
type of reactors, would be shut down. In the two reactors in Western
France, the problem was discovered near the welds on the pipes of the
safety injection-system circuit.
Brinkwire 22nd Dec 2021
Tricastin nuclear power station: a radioactive leak in groundwater
Tricastin nuclear power station: a radioactive leak in groundwater. EDF
revealed, this Tuesday, December 21, that a tritium leak had been detected
in the Tricastin nuclear power plant.
Le Dauphine 21st Dec 2021
EDF HAS DECIDED TO CLOSE TWO NUCLEAR PLANTS AFTER FINDING CRACKS
EDF HAS DECIDED TO CLOSE TWO NUCLEAR PLANTS AFTER FINDING CRACKS
https://democratic-europe.eu/2021/12/20/edf-has-decided-to-close-two-nuclear-plants-after-finding-cracks/?fbclid=IwAR0PQ0CpQFhNptc25vic5vGb1Mo4apstAvB8erHrKAWA56AB8bcGOIV58Mg 20 Dec 21, Électricité de France S.A., comm owned by the state, shuttered two nuclear power plants after routine safety inspections found cracks at one power plant.
EDF wrote in a press release, “preventive maintenance checks on the primary circuit of reactor number 1 of the Civaux Nuclear Power Plant” found cracks due to corrosion on the pipes.
“Checks initiated on the same equipment of reactor number 2 of the Civaux Nuclear Power Plant revealed similar defects,” the French power giant said.
France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) was informed about cracks detected close to the welds on the reactor’s pipes.
EDF temporarily closed Civaux to “replace the affected parts on the two Civaux reactors, the work being governed by a technical instruction prepared in cooperation with the ASN, which leads to extend the shutdown of the two reactors,” it said.
EDF has also chosen to close two reactors at another nuclear plant at Chooz in the northeastern Ardennes department for inspections. Both power plants use the same reactor technology.
The temporarily closing of Civaux’s reactors and Chooz’s reactors will reduce one terawatt-hour of output and couldn’t come at the worst time as cooler weather sent French power contracts to a record high earlier this week.
A power reduction could suggest strain on the power grid amid cooler weather and higher power prices.
The French government asked EDF for earlier restart of nuclear reactors (now on maintenance)
The French government asked Electricite de France SA to restart some
nuclear reactors earlier than planned in order to help with a winter energy
crunch across Europe. Ecology Minister Barbara Pompili said on France Info
radio that she had asked EDF Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy in a
meeting on Friday to restart more quickly than planned some reactors that
were halted for maintenance and scheduled to restart in mid-January.
Bloomberg 19th Dec 2021
France’s Association for the Control of Radioactivity in the West (ACRO) reveals plutonium pollution in La Hague.
14 Dec 21, Plutonium pollution in La Hague revealed by ACRO. As part of its Citizen’s Observatory of Radioactivity in the Environment, ACRO regularly monitors radioactive pollution around the nuclear installations in La Hague, which enabled it, in 2016, to highlight unusual pollution. in the Ru des Landes
area, with the notable presence of americium-241 and plutonium, which are particularly toxic.
Areva, now Orano, has pledged to take back the contaminated land. But, as of December 2021, no sanitation work has yet been carried out and cows continue to graze there.
ACRO 14th Dec 2021
France ready to join forces with fossil fuel promoters, in order to put nuclear at the heart of European environment policy.
To put nuclear power at the heart of European environmental policy, France
is ready to join forces with countries which promote fossil fuels.
European taxonomy is a register classifying the different energies with a more or
less green label. Obtaining it may in particular make it possible to
benefit from grants or funding.
For its part, France is pushing for nuclear
power to be recognized by the European Commission as sustainable energy. To
achieve its ends, it is not excluded that it ally with other countries
which, for their part, support natural gas – fossil energy – as shown by a
note revealed by the newspaper Context relayed by many NGOs.
France Inter 17th Dec 2021
French Environment Minister asks EDF to conduct audit on nuclear power availability, following safety shutdowns
French Environment Minister Barbara Pompili asked power utility EDF
(EDF.PA) on Friday to conduct an audit on the availability of its nuclear
power stations after the company shut down some of its reactors due to
technical problems. EDF, whose reactors provide up to 70% of the country’s
electricity needs, said on Wednesday it found faults at a nuclear power
station and shut down another plant using the same kind of reactors.
Reuters 17th Dec 2021
1 This Month
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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