Doubts on safety of extending life of France’s nuclear reactors: public consultation until 15 December
20Minutes 3rd Dec 2020, This Thursday and until January 15, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) is opening a public consultation on the conditions for the continued operation, beyond 40 years, of the 34 900 MWe (electric megawatt) reactors in France. The subject is very sensitive. “France has not prepared any alternatives so that the non-extension of these reactors can be an option”, deplores Greenpeace.
The challenge then is that these reactors provide the same levels of safety as the EPRs, new generation reactors. Is it
possible ? Yves Marignac, at NegaWatt, like Roger Spautz, at Greenpeace, doubt it. Above all, they question the technical and financial capacities of EDF to carry out the adjustments requested by ASN to allow these extensions.
https://www.20minutes.fr/planete/2920535-20201203-nucleaire-prolongation-reacteurs-dela-40-ans-serieux
tion.wordpress.com/
New comic book investigates the dilemma about France’s nuclear wastes
Mediapart 26th Nov 2020, What to do with nuclear waste? Bury them. Or ? Where the population is reluctant to dispute. For example, in Meuse. But how to convince the last recalcitrant? By watering the municipalities with subsidies. What if they resist? There remains repression. This mind-boggling story is that of a new comic book investigative book: One hundred thousand years.
Corruption investigation into AREVA’s sale of Nigerian uranium
Orano, formerly Areva, targeted by judicial investigation for corruption.
Orano, formerly Areva, targeted by judicial investigation for corruption. 25 Nov 20, A new case shakes the French nuclear group Orano, formerly known as Areva. An
investigation was opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office for facts “of
corruption of a foreign public official”, implicating in particular one of
the providers of Orano, the company Eurotradia International. “We had not
noticed anything abnormal and we are now at the disposal of justice,” said
the spokesperson for Orano, who claims to have terminated his contracts
with Eurotradia.
Concern in France over lack of expert inspection of nuclear sites
Montel News 24th Nov 2020, The lack of inspections at nuclear sites by safety experts, due to the
coronavirus pandemic, raises fears for the safety of the facilities, union
officials in the energy sector told Montel.
The Nuclear Safety Authority
(ASN) canceled all its physical inspections of nuclear power plants, except
the inspections considered essential, during the first containment in the
spring. Since then, some inspections have resumed in the field but many are
still carried out remotely.
This reduction in on-site checks is
exacerbating a situation where the workforce is already limited and
communication with workers is lacking, say some union officials.
Greenpeace launches legal appeal against French nuclear safety authority allowing extension of lifetime of nuclear reactors
  GREENPEACE CHALLENGES FRENCH NUCLEAR AUTHORITYhttps://delano.lu/d/detail/news/greenpeace-challenges-french-nuclear-authority/212454, 18.11.2020 • CORDULA SCHNUER Environmental group Greenpeace has lodged an appeal with the French Council of State, claiming the country’s nuclear safety authority acted illegally by failing to assess environmental risks linked to extending the lifespan of nuclear power plants.The nuclear safety authority (ASN) is in the process of evaluating whether power plants can continue operating past the 40-year lifespan initially programmed for their reactors. “French nuclear power plants currently in operation were designed to operate for 40 years,” Greenpeace said in a statement on Wednesday. “Beyond that, nuclear reactors enter an ageing phase not foreseen by their engineers and unknown to the operator EDF, with increased risks for the environment and the population.” The Council of State acts as the supreme court for administrative justice and Greenpeace hopes it will take into account a decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union against Belgium. The country in 2015 had decided to prolong the lifespan of reactors 1 and 2 at the Doel power plant but had to overturn the decision after the EU court in July 2019 faulted the operators for not carrying out an environmental risk assessment. French energy provider EDF has already begun works to strengthen safety and security at the power plant, it says. But without an environmental risk assessment, Greenpeace said it could not be guaranteed that the works are sufficient. The activists have long campaigned for France to exit nuclear energy. The legal challenge, if successful, could also benefit Luxembourg. The reactors of the Cattenom plant–just across the border–went into service between 1986 and 1991, meaning they should be shut off between 2026 and 2031. But operator EDF has launched a procedure to extend Cattenom’s lifespan until at least 2035. Luxembourg opposes delaying the power plant’s shutting down, even though it procures around 10% of the electricity in its grid from nuclear power and is an investor in EDF through its national pension fund. |
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EDF trucks enriched uranium to the unfinished Flamanville nuclear reactor. Why so much in advance of the need for it?
Reuters 26th Oct 2020, A first truck responsible for transporting enriched uranium to the EPR
reactor in Flamanville (Manche) left Monday morning from the Framatome
plant in Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme), according to anti-nuclear associations
who denounce an EDF “maneuver” to “make it impossible to question”
the project.
Associations, including Greenpeace, France Nature
Environnement and several anti-nuclear collectives, believe in a press
release that “nothing guarantees” that the EPR “can work one day”
and therefore consider that the fact of storing fuel there now is “an
aberration”. They also consider that “the arrival of fuel in Flamanville
also questions the security of the site” and stress that this first
delivery opens “a ballet of trucks which will last several months”.
https://fr.reuters.com/article/idFRL8N2HH2HL
Greenpeace 26th Oct 2020, EDF has just obtained the authorization to transport new fuel to the
Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor site. A first truck left at 8 am Monday,
October 26 from Romans-sur-Isère, in Drôme, and arrived in the evening at
Flamanville, in Manche. In the coming weeks, these nuclear road convoys
will therefore multiply… As if the EPR were ready to start. Yet this is
far, very far from being the case. Why such a rush, when the EPR is
accumulating delays? EDF once again adopts the strategy of a fait accompli,
despite common sense.
https://www.greenpeace.fr/epr-de-flamanville-du-combustible-pour-un-projet-obsolete/
France trying to market nuclear reactors to Romania
World Nuclear News 27th Oct 2020, France and Romania have signed a declaration of intent on cooperation inthe civil nuclear field, which aims, among other things, to work “with
strategic partners” to build units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda nuclear power
plant and to upgrade unit 1. The document was signed yesterday by French
Prime Minister Jean Castex and his Romanian counterpart Ludovic Orban, who
led a delegation of his ministers to Paris.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/France-and-Romania-plan-joint-work-on-Cernavoda-pr
France’s anti nuclear activists to train citizen scientists to measure radioactivity levels around a nuclear site
La Depeche 17th Oct 2020, The actinists who have been mobilizing on the ground for years against the
Orano-Malvesi plant (conversion and enrichment of uranium ore), want to
train citizens to take samples themselves to measure the radioactivity
around the nuclear site.
France’s nuclear company EDF promises a new design pressurised water nuclear reactor (EPR)
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EDF plans to announce new EPR nuclear reactor by mid-2021By Reuters Staff https://www.reuters.com/article/us-edf-nuclear-idUSKBN2701B8, PARIS (Reuters) 18 Oct 20, – EDF EDF.PA aims to unveil a new, cheaper-to-build version of its EPR nuclear reactor by mid-2021, the French power company said on Thursday. EDF has faced costly delays in the construction of some plants, including its Flamanville 3 nuclear project in France which is more than a decade behind schedule. The French state last year called on the company to improve its record. EDF, which is majority-owned by the government, said in a presentation that next generation EPR reactors would benefit from a reduction in necessary preparatory studies. The group said it was also planning on bringing in new oversight measures for its major projects, after a government audit last year highlighted planning deficiencies and poor coordination at some sites. EDF added in its presentation that it would introduce more of a results-driven relationship with suppliers. The government has put off a decision on whether or not to build new nuclear reactors until after the Flamanville 3 project is operating, which is now expected at the end of 2022. Other EDF projects include the planned Sizewell C nuclear plant in eastern England. EDF is already building Britain’s first new nuclear plant in more than two decades, Hinkley Point C, with backing from China’s CGN. Reporting by Benjamin Mallet, writing by Sarah White; editing by Jason Neely |
France has more nuclear waste than shown in official inventory, reports the nuclear regulator
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There is more nuclear waste in France than what is currently in the official inventory. This is one of the conclusions of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) in a report released on Thursday October 8 that went relatively unnoticed. They assert that a significant part of what was until now considered radioactive material intended to be reused to produce electricity actually corresponds to radioactive waste, which will have to be managed and stored. An orientation against the tide of the doctrine defended for years by the French nuclear industry. This report follows the public debate on the National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Materials and Waste (PNGMDR), the fifth edition of which is under preparation. Currently, the law provides that radioactive waste is an ultimate residue that can no longer be used, while radioactive material is potentially recyclable……. (subscribers only) https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2020/10/15/le-volume-des-dechets-radioactifs-est-revu-a-la-hausse-par-l-autorite-de-surete-nucleaire_6056058_3244.html |
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Cracks in France’s ageing Tricastin nuclear reactor
Liberation 8th Oct 2020, EDF’s small calculations to make people forget Tricastin’s faults. The
40-year-old Drôme plant is in the process of obtaining a ten-year
operating extension. But cracks in the reactor vessel number 1 alarm
scientists, who point to “Liberation” the risks in terms of safety.
European Commission, and France’s Hercules project, plan to break up the nuclear company EDF
Reporterre 8th Oct 2020, The European Commission, according to a document obtained by Reporterre,
intends to impose on the French State the disintegration of the EDF group
in the name of respect for competition rules. The “reform” of Brussels goes
even further than the government project Hercules, which wants to dismember
EDF .
https://reporterre.net/Exclusif-Le-projet-fou-de-Bruxelles-pour-demanteler-ED
France should reveal the location of its nuclear waste dump in Algeria
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Calls for France to reveal location of nuclear waste dumped in Algeria https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201005-calls-for-france-to-reveal-location-of-nuclear-waste-dumped-in-algeria/ October 5, 2020 France should take initiative to solve the problem of the nuclear waste buried in the Algerian Sahara in the early 1960s, as no one knows its exact location, which is a classified military secret, the head of the Paris-based Observatory for Armament said.In an interview with Radio France Internationale yesterday, Patrice Bouvre said: “When France suspended its nuclear tests in 1966, it simply buried the waste of the 17 experiments it conducted over the years.”
He added that Paris classified the location or locations of the buried nuclear waste and the documents related to the affair as “a military secret”, which remains to date. As a result, there is no information available about the exact location of the nuclear waste buried in the Algerian desert, Bouvre explained. He called on the French authorities to reveal the truth about this file and to cooperate with Algeria to clean up the areas contaminated by the nuclear waste that still exposes these regions to serious environmental damages. France conducted 17 nuclear tests between 1960 and 1966 in the Algerian Sahara, and the waste from these experiments is buried in an unknown location in the area, hindering attempts to remove the radioactive materials and protect the population and the environment |
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Severe floods in Italy and France
A storm which moved overnight across southeastern France, and then northern Italy caused major flooding on both sides of the border, damaging homes, destroying bridges, blocking roads and isolating communities………
Unrelenting rainfall overnight hit levels not seen since 1958 in northern Italy’s Piedmont region, where 630mm (24.8 inches) of rain fell in 24 hours, according to the Italian civil protection agency.
Two brothers were swept away by floodwaters while they were tending animals near the French border. One brother managed to grab onto a tree and was saved, while authorities were searching on the French side for the other brother.
Flooding in France
On the other side of the border, in southeastern France, almost a year’s average rainfall fell in less than 12 hours in the mountainous area surrounding the city of Nice.
Local firefighters said at least eight people were missing, including two firefighters whose vehicle was swept away by water when the road collapsed during a rescue operation. Several dozen people were evacuated from their homes overnight, firefighters said.
The storm, dubbed Alex, ravaged several villages around the city of Nice on the French Riviera. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi called it the most severe flooding disaster in the area for more than a century after flying over the worst-hit area by helicopter.
“The roads and about 100 houses were swept away or partially destroyed,” he told French news channel BFM……. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/3/one-killed-25-missing-in-severe-floods-in-italy-and-france
1 This Month
of the week – Shut Down Drone Warfare!
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Petition to revoke the licensing of the Near Surface Nuclear Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7247
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