France’s nuclear power edge fades, while Germany goes ahead phasing nuclear out
Since the start of the year, France has embarked on a national debate
on energy expected to culminate in a law in October to outline the
country’s future energy mix. Environment Minister Delphine Batho has
said the outcome will reflect Hollande’s promises on nuclear
power.
Forecasts that Germany’s power imports would rise and new power plants
would be built as a result didn’t materialize, according to
Hans-Joachim Ziesing, a member of the independent commission
monitoring the energy transformation in Germany…
Hollande Draws French Industry Ire as Nuclear Edge Fades Bloomberg
News, By Tara Patel February 07, 2013 French industrial groups are
up in arms as their once-celebrated nuclear-energy edge evaporates.
After decades when their factories churned out everything from steel,
glass and chemicals with one of the cheapest power prices in Europe
thanks to the country’s 58 nuclear reactors, French companies’
competitive advantage is being whittled away as the U.S. embrace of
shale gas cuts energy prices there and as Germany gives businesses
fiscal breaks on electricity costs.
Electricite de France SA’s nuclear
reactors, which make France the most reliant on atomic power in the
world, will need billions of euros of upgrades Continue reading
Yes, France is fighting in Mali on behalf of AREVA’s uranium mines
France protects Niger uranium mine BBC News, 4 Feb 13, Niger has confirmed that French special forces are protecting one of the country’s biggest uranium mines. President Mahamadou Issoufou told French media that security was being tightened at the Arlit mine after the recent hostage crisis in Algeria. French company Areva plays a major part in mining in Niger – the world’s fifth-largest producer of uranium.
Islamist militants kidnapped five French workers from the mine in Arlit three years ago. Four of them are still being held – along with three other French hostages – and it is believed they could be in the north of Mali close to where French troops are battling al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Asked if he could confirm that French special forces were guarding the uranium mine, President Issoufou told channel TV5: “Absolutely I can confirm. ”We decided, especially in light of what happened in Algeria… not to take risks and strengthen the protection of mining sites,” he added.
France’s Agence France-Presse news agency said a dozen French special forces reservists were strengthening security at the site.Areva gets much of its uranium from the two mines it operates in the country, at Arlit and Imouraren… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21318043
Gaol for French doctors who radiation overdosed patients
Doctors jailed in French radiation scandal The Australian, AAP
January 31, 2013 A FRENCH court has sentenced two doctors and a
radiophysicist to 18 months in prison each for their role in radiation
overdoses that killed at least 12 people and left dozens seriously
ill.
Overdoses were given to nearly 450 cancer patients at the Jean Monnet
hospital in Epinal in northeastern France between 2001 and 2006.
It is the most serious incident of its kind France has
known…..http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/doctors-jailed-in-french-radiation-scandal/story-fn3dxix6-1226565535205
French govt putting up funds to promote nuclear companies
FRANCE PREPARES FUND TO SUPPORT SMALLER NUCLEAR FIRMS PARIS http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/15961651/france-prepares-fund-to-support-smaller-nuclear-firms/ 27 Jan 13, – The French government plans to unveil a fund to support small and mid-size businesses in the country’s nuclear industry, a spokeswoman for the industry ministry said on Saturday, confirming a report in Le Monde newspaper.
The government also plans to set up an association bringing together French nuclear players in addition to the 123 million-euro (105 million pounds) fund, which will be designed to take stakes in companies, bolster their capital and facilitate tie-ups, the spokeswoman said.
It will be financed by major groups such as utility EDF , nuclear reactor maker Areva and engineering firm Alstom , as well as France’s FSI strategic investment fund.
While the proportions are yet to be determined, Le Monde reported that the FSI would provide “a large third” of the sum.
The moves will be decided at a meeting of the French nuclear industry strategic committee on Tuesday, attended by Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg and Ecology Minister Delphine Batho.
The industry ministry spokeswoman said it wants to show support for a sector that employs 200,000 people in France and which will likely hire 110,000 workers by 2020. (Reporting by Yann Le Guernigou; Writing by James Regan; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
France’s military in Niger to protect AREVA’s uranium mines
France orders special forces to protect Niger uranium: source PARIS Jan 24, 2013 (Reuters)– France has ordered special forces to protect uranium sites run by state-owned Areva in Niger as the threat of attacks on its interests rises after its intervention against rebels in Mali, a military source said on Thursday Reporting by John Irish, Geert de Clercq, Muriel Boselli, Michel Rose in Paris and Abdoulaye Massalatchi in Niamey; …….
The military source confirmed a report in weekly magazine Le Point that special forces and equipment would be sent to Areva’s uranium production sites in Imouraren and Arlit very quickly, but declined to go into further details.
Defense ministry officials declined to comment on the report and Areva said it did not talk about security issues….
Areva, Niger’s biggest single investor, has about 2,700 workers in Niger and is planning to start up a third mine in Imouraren.
The planned startup of production in Imouraren was delayed to 2013 or 2014 from 2012, following the kidnappings and a labor dispute.
A Niger army officer said that there were already security arrangements agreed with France since 2011 after the kidnappings in Arlit and they had been reinforced over time.
“We also have our counter-terrorism units in the Agadez region,” he said. “For now, I don’t know of a decision by the Nigerien government to allow French special forces to base themselves in the north.”
An Areva spokeswoman said this month the French government had not asked the company to reduce staffing in Niger. She added Areva has an extensive security plan for its employees and that the plan has been reviewed by the French authorities.
Areva has been mining uranium in Niger for more than five decades and the country provides one third of the group’s uranium supplies.
According to a parliamentary committee enquiring into France’s supplies of uranium, about 18 percent of the raw material used to power France’s 58 nuclear reactors came from Niger in 2008…. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/24/us-mali-rebels-niger-areva-idUSBRE90N0OD20130124
France’s drive to sell nuclear abroad, while getting out of it at home
France on nuclear charm offensive in Saudi Arabia, By Geert De Clercq PARIS, Jan 18 (Reuters) – A top French minister and the chief executives of French utility EDF and reactor builder Areva are visiting Saudi Arabiathis weekend to build a case for selling French nuclear reactors to the oil-rich country.
Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg will meet with Saudi officials and with representatives of EDF and Areva, who opened a joint office in Riyadh six months ago to lay the groundwork for a French nuclear offer.
Montebourg will build on a Nov. 4 visit by French President Francois Hollande to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and a 2011 agreement betweenFrance and Saudi Arabia that offered the Saudis atomic know-how and training for local staff….
France plays a strong hand in Saudi Arabia, which has no nuclear capabilities of its own but has deep pockets and wants to acquire the most modern technology…..
Unlike other suppliers, Areva also sells uranium, offering utilities long-term supply contracts…….
he French will face formidable competition from U.S., Japanese and South Korean consortia. Westinghouse-Toshiba has deep ties with the Middle East, and a Korean-led consortium dealt the French a humiliating blow with its surprise win of a $40 billion contract in Abu Dhabi three years ago…….
Hollande’s government, despite having decided to cut the share of nuclear in French electricity generation to 50 percent in 2025 from the current 75 percent, is keen to export reactors….. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/18/france-saudi-nuclear-idUSL6N0ANEA120130118
War in Mali – to preserve France’s control of uranium resources?
French mining company Areva, had lost its almost complete exclusive right to Niger’s uranium. This could easily explain why France could not afford to lose Mali as well.
On Monday, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said… Key interests were at stake for us, for Africa, for Europe, so we had to act quickly,” said Fabius. Could one of the key interests mentioned by Mr. Fabius be uranium?
Uranium is indeed France’s key energy resource… , the country is heavily dependent on uranium..
Mali: France’s Neo-Colonial War for Uranium? News Junke Post, By Gilbert Mercier 15 Jan 13 In late December 2012, the United Nations Security Council approved the dispatch of an “African-led intervention force” to Mali’s to help the army reconquer the north of the country from Tuareg separatists and their allied Islamist militants. But in recent days, it is not the African-led troops who have been operating in Mali. Instead, troops from former colonial power France have been unilaterally deployed to fight the rebellion in the north….
Recipe for a failed state Continue reading
France’s President Hollande calls for renewable energy spending
Hollande calls for more renewable energy spending http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=56456 16 Jan 13, French President warns failure to invest in developing renewable energy will increase demand for fossil energy, risks of global warming. Middle East Online
ABU DHABI – French President Francois Hollande called on Tuesday for pumping more investments in renewable energy projects to prepare for the post-oil era and to avoid global warming.
“If we don’t spend … we will have a catastrophe,” Hollande told the opening session of the World Future Energy Summit (WEFS) in Abu Dhabi. Continue reading
France short of money – but can find enough for nuclear weapons
France affirms nuclear arms despite military cuts Miami Herald, BY
JAMEY KEATEN 9 Jan 13,
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLIVET, France –– France’s president says the country will maintain
its costly nuclear arsenal despite looming military budget cuts,
saying the weapons are essential for national defense.
President Francois Hollande said Wednesday that global security
threats have made nuclear weapons essential for France, which is the
only country in continental Europe to have them…….
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/09/3174407/france-affirms-nuclear-arms-despite.html#storylink=cpy
France’s nuclear energy inextricably entwined with nuclear weaponry
as civilian and military nuclear programs
have been intertwined for decades, cutting financing for civilian
nuclear research projects would increase the cost of maintaining the
nuclear arsena
A French nuclear exit? e! Science News, January 7, 2013 France has
been held up, worldwide, as the forerunner in using nuclear fission to
produce electricity. However, a third of the nation’s nuclear reactors
will need replacing in the next decade, and public opinion has shifted
toward reducing reliance on nuclear power. In a special issue of the
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE four articles
explore whether France has the means or desire to unplug from nuclear
power. Continue reading
Nuclear energy company EDF launches wind energy project
France’s EDF launches its first wind farm in Poland
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/67517
04-Jan-13
Country: POLAND
Author: Agnieszka Barteczko
French power company EDF has launched its first wind farm in Poland, a
48 megawatt (MW) facility located in the northern part of the country,
the firm said on Thursday.
The utility’s unit, EDF Energies Nouvelles, bought the Linowo windfarm
last year to strengthen its position in the coal-dependant European
Union nation looking to boost the share of renewables in its energy
supplies.
Poland has around 2,000 MW of installed wind energy, representing more
than 5 percent of the power system’s total capacity. It has targeted
boosting that capacity to 6,000 MW by 2030.
Under EU law at least 15 percent of Poland’s energy production must
come from renewable sources by 2020.
UK’s Hinkley Point nuclear plans could be derailed by France’s probe into EDF
Reports: EDF inquiry could disrupt UK nuclear plans Financial Times suggests investigation could complicate strike price negotiations and unsettle investors
BusinessGreen 03 Jan 2013 The UK’s ambitions for a new fleet of nuclear reactors could be disrupted by a French government probe into state-owned generator EDF, whose UK arm is currently in negotiations to build a £14bn nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
The formal inquiry established in the last days of 2012 is billed as an industry-wide investigation, but French media are reporting it is specifically focused on EDF and its relationships with China.
The Financial Times said yesterday that the inquiry casts doubt over the future of EDF chief executive Henri Proglio, who has been unable to replicate the close relationship he enjoyed with former President Nicolas Sarkozy with his successor, François Hollande. , observers are concerned the probe could have a knock-on effect on EDF’s stance towards building a new reactor at Hinkley Point, especially if the French government decides it should not take the risk of subsidising UK energy consumers. Any shift in EDF’s position would further complicate ongoing negotiations with the UK government over the level of subsidy, or strike price, that will be provided to support the Hinkley Point plant.
Last year, it was reported EDF Energy was looking for a payment of between £100 per megawatt hour (MWh) and £140/MWh to go ahead with the plant and that a final investment decision had been delayed from the end of 2012 to April 2013….. http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2233578/reports-edf-inquiry-could-disrupt-uk-nuclear-plans
Investigation of secret nuclear deals between France’s EDF and China
The Inspector General of Finance (IGF) is intensely interested in the first agreement between EDF and CGNPC that defined a partnership whose goal it was to build nuclear power plants together. The plants would be equipped with a new reactor type, the latest and greatest alternative to the catastrophically over-budget and now stalled European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) that Areva had been pushing for years.
That EDF, which was mostly government-owned, could even envision a deal that would hurt Areva, which was wholly government-owned, was simply too galling..
Blowing Up Now: The Transfer Of French Nuclear Technology To China Zero Hedge, 12/28/2012 Wolf Richter
Technology transfers, whether on a contractual basis or through theft, have long bedeviled companies that want to benefit from China’s cheap labor and 1.3 billion consumers. Automakers, aerospace companies, technology outfits…. it’s the price they have to pay.
But when it seeped out that the largely state-owned nuclear industry in France was trying to sell its secrets to China to make a deal, oh là là!…..
Nuclear energy—where France has also been proudly on the forefront—was going to be next. Until the scandal of massive nuclear-technology transfers broke into the open. The central figure, Henri Proglio, CEO of mega-utility EDF that owns France’s 58 active nuclear reactors but derives almost half of its revenues from outside France, has come under investigation by the Inspector General of Finance (IGF). Of particular interest: the agreement to sell nuclear and industrial secrets and knowhow to China in order to conclude a deal that had been “aborted.”…. Continue reading Nuclear firm AREVA hedging its bets- making wind turbines now
Areva plans 750 jobs with Scottish wind turbine factory, Telegraph,
By Emily Gosden 19 Nov 2012 French energy company Areva has
unveiled plans for a wind turbine factory in Scotland that could
create up to 750 jobs.
The plant at the Firth of Forth would manufacture turbines for use off
the coast of the UK, each generating 5 megawatts of electricity, which
could supply 6,000 homes a year.
The move was hailed as “brilliant news for Scotland” by Prime Minister
David Cameron, who added: “Growth of the renewable energy sector isn’t
just good for our environment, it’s good for our economy too.”…..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9689022/Areva-plans-750-jobs-with-Scottish-wind-turbine-factory.html
Probe into EDF – China deal to develop a new type of nuclear reactor
EDF declines comment on China nuclear probe report PARIS http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/12/25/uk-edf-china-nuclear-idUKBRE8BO03K20121225 by Lionel
Laurent and Gerard Bon Dec 25, 2012
Electricite de France (EDF.PA) on Tuesday declined to
comment on a report of a probe into its recent partnership with a
Chinese utility to develop a new type of nuclear reactor.
Several French news websites cited a forthcoming article in satirical
weekly Le Canard Enchaine, due to appear on Wednesday, as saying that
French finance-ministry inspectors had begun an inquiry into the terms
of the China agreement.
“We have no reaction,” a spokeswoman for EDF said, adding she had not
seen the forthcoming article. The French finance ministry was
unavailable for comment.EDF had said in November that the agreement
with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation Holding GDNCP.UL was to
develop a concept for a 1,000-MW reactor. This would be cheaper and
smaller than the 1,600-MW EPR reactor blamed for the loss of a
landmark project in Abu Dhabi in 2009.
1 This Month
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 (152)
- 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 