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
In September, French nuclear production reached its second lowest level on record
record – also its second lowest this year – at 21.6 TWh, down 21.5%
compared to 2019, while outages several reactors have been extended, RTE
data said Thursday. Nuclear output last month was thus slightly higher, by
0.3 TWh, the lowest recorded in June, at 21.3 TWh, according to Montel’s
calculations. And it has decreased by 1.2 TWh compared to August. On
average, nuclear represented 68.4% of electricity production in France,
against 69% in August. https://www.montelnews.com/fr/story/production-nuclaire-%C3%A0-un-2me-plus-bas-record-en-septembre/1153335
Two new appeals against the Flamanville EPR
have decided to seize the Council of State in order to cancel the decree
extending the construction of the Flamanville EPR until 2024. On March 25,
in the confinement, the government issued a decree extending to 2024 the
validity of the creation authorization decree of the EPR in Flamanville,
which set earlier in April 2020 its deadline for commissioning.
France, France Nature Environnement Normandy, Crilan, Stop EPR neither in
Penly nor elsewhere) “strongly denounce this government obstinacy in
tolerating the continuation of this catastrophic project.”
French taxpayers don’t want to pay for Sizewell nuclear station, neither do British.
France’s EDF demands clarity on British nuclear power plans Times John Collingridge 27 Sept 20, French energy giant EDF is set for a showdown with the Treasury over state funding for nuclear power stations as Britain’s atomic future faces a make-or-break moment.Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman and chief executive of Électricité de France, will speak to chancellor Rishi Sunak via video link on Wednesday to demand clarity over Britain’s plans for funding nuclear power.
The industry was left reeling this month when Japan’s Hitachi quit its Horizon project to build a £20bn plant on Anglesey.
That shock retreat, after years of prevarication by Westminster over state support for nuclear power and turmoil in the Japanese nuclear industry, left only EDF and China General Nuclear with plans for atomic power stations in the UK.
EDF and China are building the delayed and over-budget £22.5bn Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset, but Paris has balked at
the prospect of French taxpayers funding the next nuclear project in Britain.
Instead, EDF, which is 84% owned by the French state, wants British taxpayers to underwrite a new plant at Sizewell in Suffolk. A
proposed new financial structure, the regulated asset base, would levy a tax on UK household energy bills to help pay for the project.
Other options include the British government taking a stake — although that has worried the Treasury, which is anxious about adding to its debt mountain.
EDF declined to comment. With most of Britain’s ageing reactors due to close by the end of the decade, Sunak and Boris Johnson face the dilemma of whether to fund more big nuclear plants, or rely on wind, solar, gas, small reactors and imported power to keep the lights on.
The American government has warned Hitachi against selling the Anglesey site to China, and is understood to be considering bankrolling US companies to take it over. Westinghouse, which makes the AP1000 nuclear plant, and NuScale Power,
which is developing small, modular reactors, are both believed to be
exploring options for the site. South Korea’s Kepco is also understood to
be interested, as is EDF.
France’s secrecy over its deplorable history of nuclear bomb testing in Algeria
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Algeria: France urged to reveal truth about past nuclear tests, https://www.theafricareport.com/41067/algeria-france-urged-to-reveal-truth-about-past-nuclear-tests/, By Farid Alilat, Thursday, 10 September 2020, A study released shows the presence of waste tied to French nuclear tests in Algeria done during the 1960s. Jeune Afrique/The Africa Report had a chance to consult the report.
On 13 February 1960 at 7:04 a.m., France tested its first nuclear bomb, named Gerboise bleue, over Reggane. At the time, the French authorities explained that the tests were being conducted in uninhabited and deserted areas. However, at least 20,000 people were living at the sites, which still to this day have yet to be fully decontaminated. What waste remains of the 17 nuclear tests France carried out in Algeria between 1960 and 1967? What kind of condition is it in, and what repercussions does it have on the health of residents and the environment? Is France ready to assist Algerians in locating this waste and decontaminating sites, at a time when both countries show a willingness to work together on a memorial initiative regarding the colonial past? More than 60 years after Gerboise bleue, was conducted, a report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) recommends that France answer these questions and provide Algeria with assistance in cleaning up the relevant sites. ‘Radioactivity Under the Sand’, a study led by Patrice Bouveret, director of the French Centre for Documentation and Research on Peace and Conflicts (Observatoire des armements), and Jean-Marie Collin, co-spokesperson for ICAN France, provides a comprehensive review of the presence of French nuclear waste in Algeria. Between February 1960 and February 1967, France carried out 17 atmospheric and underground nuclear tests in the Reggane and Hoggar regions, not far from a natural museum housing cave paintings which date back to the Neolithic period. Nine of these tests were conducted after Algeria gained independence in July 1962.
In accordance with a clause contained in the Evian Agreements of March 1962, France was permitted to continue its testing programme until 1967. On paper, the testing came to an end that year. However, the Algerian government under Chadli Bendjedid’s presidency secretly granted the French permission to continue carrying out tests at the B2-Namous site in Reggane until 1986. Radioactive materials left out in the openAlthough some of the facilities used for the tests were dismantled prior to and after the programme’s shutdown, waste is still present both above and below ground. At the end of the Algerian War, the two parties failed to negotiate a clause which would have forced France to decontaminate the sites or provide Algerians with archives and documentation related to the nuclear tests. “After seven years [from 1960 to 1967] of conducting a range of tests, the two sites at Reggane and In Ekker were handed over to Algeria without providing for any procedures to control and monitor radioactivity,” reads a December 1997 report from the French Senate. The institution acknowledged that the French authorities displayed “a certain lack of concern”, noting that local residents “could have been treated with at least a little consideration”. According to the authors of the ICAN report: “From the beginning of nuclear tests, France set up a policy of burying all waste in the sand. Everything that may have been contaminated by radioactivity had to be buried.” This included planes, tanks and other equipment. Worse still, radioactive materials (vitrified sand and contaminated rocks and lava) were left out in the open, thereby exposing the population and the environment to assured danger.
The report also mentions that since France is not subject to any obligation under agreements it has established with Algeria, it has never revealed the location or quantity of the buried waste. The authors add: “The nuclear past should no longer remain buried deep in the sand.” Lack of transparencyIn a 1996 ‘classified defence’-level report held in the archives of the French Ministry of Defence and which remains classified, the French authorities indicate that the tests had been halted without taking any initiative to provide documentation to their Algerian counterparts. “No memorandum and no report have been found that provide information about the radiological condition of the launch bases when they were returned to the Algerian authorities [in 1967],” the report reads. Not only does waste remain under the sand, but “the sites are not subject to checks for radioactivity and are even less the subject of campaigns to raise awareness among local residents about the health risks”. Although the Morin Law of 2010 (of which France recognised victims through its nuclear testing ) opened the doors to granting compensation to nuclear test victims in French Polynesia and Algeria, it failed to take environmental consequences into account. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), adopted in July 2017 and signed by Algeria, requires State Parties to take measures to assist the residents and areas contaminated by the tests. In addition, the treaty stipulates that “a State Party that has used or tested nuclear weapons or any other nuclear explosive devices shall have a responsibility to provide adequate assistance to affected States Parties, for the purpose of victim assistance and environmental remediation”. The issue is that, thus far, France has declined to sign the TPNW. What’s more, a lack of transparency still dominates. For example, ICAN’s report cites a secret agreement between France and Algeria regarding nuclear decontamination which was reportedly signed during former French President François Hollande’s visit with his Algerian counterpart, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in Algiers in December 2012. The agreement concerned the notorious B2-Namous site in Reggane. A set of recommendationsWill the memorial initiatives recently undertaken by both countries – with the appointment of two experts, Benjamin Stora for France and Abdelmadjid Chikhi for Algeria – be a game changer for this chapter of history which continues to put a strain on relations between France and Algeria? According to Algeria’s veterans affairs minister, the memorial initiatives integrate the nuclear waste question. In keeping with these efforts, ICAN’s report recommends that the two parties hold discussions and that France improve Algerian citizens’ access to French medical archives, as well as that French legislation from 2010 “delineating the affected areas in the Sahara” be amended “so that they can be expanded, as was done for French Polynesia”. Other recommendations concern nuclear waste, with the report suggesting that “France should provide the Algerian authorities with a full list of sites where contaminated waste was buried, in addition to the precise location of each of these sites (latitude and longitude), a description of this material, as well as the type and thickness of the materials used to cover them”. The report also proposes that France “provide Algeria with the plans of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission’s [CEA] underground installations under the Reggane plateau military base, as well as the plans of the various galleries excavated in the Tan Afella mountain”. On 13 February 1960 at 7:04 a.m., France tested its first nuclear bomb, named Gerboise bleue, over Reggane. At the time, the French authorities explained that the tests were being conducted in uninhabited and deserted areas. However, at least 20,000 people were living at the sites, which still to this day have yet to be fully decontaminated. |
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France’s weekly nuclear power generation drops
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French nuclear weekly generation falls below 30 GW to 9-week-low, AuthorAndreas Franke , EditorJonathan Dart
HIGHLIGHTS 28.4 GW average some 10 GW below Sept. 2019 Low river levels at Chooz, unplanned outages, delays France turned net importer for week ending Sept. 6 London — French nuclear generation averaged 28.4 GW in the seven days to Sept. 6, the lowest weekly average in nine weeks, according to data from system operator RTE. Nuclear output rose to 29.2 GW on Sept. 7, but that was 12 GW lower than a year earlier as the 3-GW Chooz plant remained offline due to low river levels, with a number of reactor returns delayed……… |
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EDF’s Economic Statement on impact of Sizewell nuclear project – gives unproven, misleading evidence
Stop Sizewell C 3rd Sept 2020, An independent review of EDF’s Economic Statement, assessing the impacts of Sizewell C to Suffolk’s local economy, has concluded that the project threatens “profitability and, in some cases, viability” of some local businesses, while others will be “at an immediate disadvantage when bidding for contracts”.
The report, Sizewell Economic Statement – Response, by highly-regarded independent research and analysis consultancy Development Economics, reveals multiple areas where EDF’s claimed benefits are over-optimistic, unproven or misleading, frequently omitting
evidence to support its figures or relying on “erroneous analysis”.
It concludes, critically, that EDF’s Economic Statement “fails to meet the minimum requirements of the legislation”, with no serious attempt to measure the deterrent effect on tourists and their expenditure, traffic congestion or competition for skills and labour.
The National Policy Statement EN-6 requires that applicants for major nuclear energy projects take into account ‘potential pressures on local and regional resources, demographic change and economic benefit’.
Global heating – low water rate affecting France’s Saint-Alban nuclear plant
  Low water flow may halve output at France’s Saint-Alban nuclear plant https://www.reuters.com/article/france-nuclear/low-water-flow-may-halve-output-at-frances-saint-alban-nuclear-plant-idUSL8N2G04V7 PARIS, Sept 3 (Reuters) – A low flow rate on the Rhone River will likely restrict output from Saturday to Monday at EDF’s Saint-Alban nuclear plant in southeastern France, French grid operator RTE said on Thursday.The two Saint-Alban reactors produce 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of power each and RTE said the reduction in output could be equivalent to the production of one unit.
The Saint-Alban 2 reactor is currently scheduled to go offline for routine maintenance on Sept. 19. EDF’s use of water is regulated by law to protect plant and animal life. The company is obliged to reduce output during hot weather when water temperatures rise, or when river levels and the flow rate are low. August was the third hottest in France on records going back to 1900, with the summer months between June and August entering the top 10 hottest summers on record, Meteo France data showed. Low flow rates were already an issue at the Saint-Alban plant last month, as RTE warned on Aug. 20 that the equivalent of one reactor could be taken offline for that reason. French nuclear availability is currently at 52.4% of total capacity, with 29.7 GW offline. (Reporting by Forrest Crellin; Editing by Susan Fenton) |
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France’s President Macron joins the global nuclear lobby’s push to export nuclear reactors
Macron talks nuclear energy and ways to control militias during Iraq visit, The National , Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Sep 2, 2020French PM is the most significant leader to visit Iraq since Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi came to power in May
During a visit to Baghdad on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron discussed solving Iraq’s massive power shortages with nuclear energy ……. Mr Kadhimi told reporters in Baghdad that he discussed with Mr Macron “a future project” to use nuclear energy to produce electricity and solve decades-long power shortages……..
If realised, the project would place Iraq along with the UAE and Iran as the only Middle East countries with electricity produced by a nuclear reactor. ………. https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/macron-talks-nuclear-energy-and-ways-to-control-militias-during-iraq-visit-1.1071729
Nuclear colonialism. ICAN says that France must clean up its nucleat test wastelands in Algeria
France must clean up Algerian nuclear test sites: group, https://www.france24.com/en/20200826-france-must-
clean-up-algerian-nuclear-test-sites-group 28 Aug 20, France must clean up nuclear test sites in Algeria where radioactive waste remains from testing in the former colony during the 1960s, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning group said Wednesday.
France carried out 17 nuclear explosions in the Algerian part of the Sahara Desert between 1960 and 1966.
Eleven of the tests came after the 1962 Evian Accords ended the six-year war of independence and 132 years of colonial rule.
“France must give the Algerian authorities the full list of where the contaminated toxic waste was buried,” the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said in a new 60-page report.
“The ‘nuclear past’ must no longer remain deeply buried under the sand,” ICAN said, citing the concerned areas as the western Reggane region and a zone close to the In Ekker village.
The campaign group identified contaminated, radioactive elements that have either been buried, or are easily accessible.
“The majority of the waste is in the open air, without any security, and accessible by the population, creating a high level of sanitary and environmental insecurity,” ICAN said.The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize laureate group added that almost nothing has been done to clean the sites, inform the populations and evaluate the risks.
Exposure to radioactive material can cause cancer.
“This case study shows once more an asymmetry of power and an injustice that we find all through nuclear history,” Giorgio Franceschini, director of the Heinrich Boll Foundation which published the report, said in his forward.
“It is not a coincidence that France tested its first nuclear weapon in Algeria, that was still a French colony in 1960,” he added.
France refused to sign up the UN’s 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, whereas Algeria signed and is in the process of ratifying the legally binding agreement.
Since Algeria’s independence, Franco-Algerian relations have been tumultuous.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in July called on France to fully apologise for its colonial past.
An apology could “make it possible to cool tensions and create a calmer atmosphere for economic and cultural relations”, especially for the more than six million Algerians who live in France, he said.
1 This Month
26 September – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
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