France stops nuclear plant due to hot dry weather
Dry weather starts to bite French nuclear output
* Nuclear plants use water to cool their reactors
* Chooz plant already forced to stop in July due to weather
PARIS, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Dry weather conditions are starting to hit output at France’s nuclear reactors with EDF forced to stop one reactor in northern France to protect river flows, EDF said on Monday.France, the European Union’s biggest power exporter, this year experienced its driest March-May spring period in 50 years and its hottest since 1900. While rain fell over the summer, France experienced another dry bout this autumn. Autumn 2011 was the second hottest since the start of the 20th century and rainfall in October was 45 percent lower than average, according to French weather forecaster Meteo France.
Nuclear plants use water to cool their reactors. French power producer EDF, which operates the country’s 58 reactors, is not allowed to keep reactors operating if water temperatures rise beyond a set level or if flows fall below authorised limits.
A spokesman at EDF’s Chooz nuclear plant, located close to the Belgian border, said the utility had not restarted the 1,450-megawatt reactor 1 as planned on November 28 to safeguard minimum river flows.”There is an agreement between France and Belgium whereby France owes Belgium a minimum of 20 cubic metre per second on a 12-day average,” the spokesman said…….http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL5E7MT5UE20111129.
Police violence does not deter huge anti nuclear protests in France and Germany
After 126 hours en route the 13th CASTOR delivery arrived for storage in Gorleben. The longest and most expensive delivery trip ever was caused by blockades of anti-nuclear activists, starting in France, continuing throughout Germany and culminating in the Gorleben area itself.
After a trip of nearly five and a half days from Normandy in France the 13th delivery of processed German nuclear waste reached the “temporary” storage hall in Gorleben, a village in northwest Germany at about 10 pm on Monday +++ Police perpetrated massive violence and breaches of the law against demonstrators, injuring at least 355 with truncheons, gas, dogs, horses and water cannons +++ The 25,000 activists in the county were the second largest number ever +++ Resistance against the shipment began in France where activists reported police violence against them but also an upsurge of anti-nuclear sentiment in the country +++ In the Gorleben area resistance took the form of rail and road squats, chain-ons (one caused a 14-hour delay in the train journey) and massive road traffic disruptions, notably by farmers with tractors and agricultural machinery +++(See German Source here)
The activists’ first aid team of doctors and other health professionals report treating at least 355 injured by police, including serious head wounds and a suspected vertebral fracture from truncheoning. About a third of the injuries were caused by gas, the others mainly by truncheons. One person was run down by a horse, another had a tooth bashed out. Some police who’d been affected by their own mace or who were totally exhausted (10 cases) were also treated. In some cases the first aiders were denied access, especially during the trucking phase. Nine were ordered away from places. A doctor was not allowed to examine an arrested injured person. In another case first aiders were kettled while washing out people’s eyes. There were several cases of police violence against first aiders, e.g. one was injured by gas, another by several blows with a truncheon. A first aid camp in Laase was overrun linkby police, who threatened and insulted first aiders. The group is shocked by the high number of injured which will probably rise because not all the numbers are in yet. http://linksunten.indymedia.org/en/node/50895
Nuclear industry getting anxious about anti nuclear politics in France
Uranium and the French threat [to the nuclear and uranium industries] 9 News, 30 Nov 11 France will hold presidential elections in two rounds in April and May followed by parliamentary elections in June. Polls currently suggest Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande would knock off incumbent president Nicholas Sarkozy if elections were held today.
Assuming presidential polls also reflect parliamentary preferences, Deutsche suggests the nuclear industry should be rather concerned about a policy agreement between the Socialist Party and the French version of the Greens. The agreement, which is yet to be formerly signed, is to undertake to close 24 of France’s 58 nuclear reactors by 2025. Two would be closed immediately and a moratorium would be placed on any new construction outside of the one plant currently being built.
In the scheme of things, suggests Deutsche, such a move would be a lot more significant than Germany’s decision to wind down nuclear power made earlier this year after the Fukushima disaster. It would likely also prompt a nuclear rethink across all of the European Union, with Belgium an obvious first candidate for change…..
Deutsche will watch political developments closely given the potentially “profound” implications for uranium prices on the one hand and gas prices on the other, …. http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newscolumnists/greg/8381663/uranium-and-the-french-threat
Jaitapur nuclear plant delayed in haggles over Nuclear Liability Law, and Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty
Jaitapur nuclear plant work may not start before 2014 France, says 
Bernard Bigot, remains committed to fulfil all its obligations LiveMint.com 28 Nov 11Makarand Gadgil Mumbai: French Atomic Energy Commission chairman Bernard Bigot said on Monday that work on the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra was unlikely to start before 2014 due to regulatory hurdlesHe referred to the delay in concluding the commercial contract between Areva and the government-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd (NPCIL) Continue reading
French company AREVA finding wind energy a better bet than nuclear?
Areva has looked to diversify away from 
nuclear energy and build up solar, wind and biomassbusinesses. …..Areva has teamed up with energy group GDF Suez SA and concessions company Vinci SA to bid for a part of the French government’s wind turbine project…The French government aims for a total of 1,200 wind turbines to be eventually built, costing a total of €10 billion.
In mid-December Areva is set to detail the financial impact of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima this March.
Areva Diversifies Further Into Wind, WSJ, 28 Nov, By MAX COLCHESTER And NOÉMIE BISSERBE, PARIS—Areva SA said Monday it is in advanced talks to build about 120 wind turbines at two offshore wind farms in Germany, as theengineering group continues to diversify away from nuclear energy…. Continue reading
Nuclear waste train meets strong protest in France
Nuclear waste train spurs protests in France, Nov 23 (Reuters) – French anti-nuclear activists scuffled with police in Normandy on Wednesday as they tried to hold up a train transporting radioactive waste processed by nuclear producer Areva to a storage site in Germany.
Several hundred protesters tried to occupy the train tracks near the town of Valognes in northwestern France before being repelled by police in riot gear. Police said they had detained five people. Before the train eventually departed around mid-afternoon, the activists played a cat-and-mouse game with police officers, who launched canisters of tear gas to disperse them before charging the crowd with batons.
“This movement is about the indignation of people who are aware of the dangers of nuclear power and who reject politics geared only toward the profit of certain businesses,” said a 60-year-old activist, who did not want to give his name……
The train carried 11 tubular containers of highly radioactive nuclear waste processed by Areva at its treatment plant at La Hague, northwest France. The treated waste, which originates from German nuclear plants, was en route to the nuclear waste facility of Gorleben in northeastern Germany for storage. Wednesday’s train marked the last of 12 shipments of treated nuclear waste sent in recent years from France to Gorleben. An expired contract between the two countries is not expected to be renewed. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/france-nuclear-protests-idUSL5E7MN30R20111123
French activists try to stop nuclear waste train
The shipment from the French nuclear giant Areva’s reprocessing plant at La Hague is the last planned to Germany. Germany has stopped sending nuclear waste for reprocessing in France, as it winds down its nuclear power plants. Chancellor Angela Merkel said this year that all plants would be shut down by 2022.Wednesday’s train left more than an hour late as a result of the disturbances, which were frequently violent, correspondents report…. The demonstrators managed to remove a rail and destroy electric junction boxes before the train left, according to France’s AFP news agency.
‘Radical opposition’ Further protests are expected when the train enters Germany on its way to the nuclear waste facility at Gorleben. Protesters say the shipment presents an environmental hazard but Areva insists the rail shipment is perfectly safe.”Beyond the danger that this waste poses, we’re demonstrating our radical opposition to a means of production that means we’ll always need more power,” said one Parisian protester, Anna, 24. “We’re against endless growth.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15861761
Danger of AREVA’s nuclear waste convoy from France to Germany
If the radioactivity from the transport was dispersed in an accident or an attack, Areva would be discharged from almost all liability.
Last Minute information – high-risk transport from France to Germany leaving one day early, 21 Nov 11 Transport of highly radioactive nuclear waste will again cross France from west to east, and part of Germany, exposing people and the SNCF agents to nuclear risks. Originally scheduled this Thursday, 24 November, the train from Valognes railway terminal has been advanced one day by AREVA and SNCF to try to avoid the huge mobilisation that is being prepared. The convoy should leave Valognes on Wednesday 23 at 14:36.The two routes planned by the authorities from Amiens remain unchanged, the convoy could head north towards Arras or south to Reims. Eleven containers carrying 301 barrels of high activity waste “re-treated” at the Areva plant in La Hague (Manche).
A rolling Chernobyl : Europe again under the threat of a nuclear convoy at high risk The official inventory of radioactivity in the transport amounted to 3756.5 peta becquerel (PBq) or 3.75 billion billion Becquerel of Becquerel. For comparison, the convoy will transport many times the radioactivity released during the Chernobyl disaster [i]. Scattered in the environment, the radio-toxicity potential [ii] this convoy would be enough to poison the whole human race [iii]. Continue reading
Anti nuclear movement gaining political strength in France
Green party presidential candidate Eva Joly has denounced claims of hundreds of thousands of job losses as “scandalouslies” and said 600,000 jobs would be created by tapping alternative energy sources like solar and wind power.
Sarkozy has insisted he will continue supporting nuclear energy, saying the Fukushima 
disaster was “not a nuclear accident, it was an enormous tsunami”…..
France opposition to reduce nuclear power , SMH, Michael Mainville,November 17, 2011 – France’s long-held support for nuclear energy has emerged as a key issue in next year’s election after the opposition Socialists and Greens agreed to joint efforts to reduce reliance on atomic power.
The deal marks the first significant move toward limiting nuclear power in France since it embraced atomic energy after the oil shocks of the 1970s and comes amid growing disquiet here after Japan’s Fukushima atomic disaster in March. Continue reading
France: pact between Greens and Socialists threatens nuclear industry
Parties clash over future of nuclear power in France, BBC News, 17 Nov 11, France’s government has accused the opposition Socialists of planning to undermine the nuclear industry in return for Green party support…..
Opinion polls suggest Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande will defeat Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s vote. On Tuesday, the two opposition parties sealed an electoral pact under which the Socialists will not stand in a number of constituencies, thereby giving the Greens the prospect of at least 15 seats in the new parliament. Continue reading
France’s nuclear watchdog warns of safety flaws in reactors
France must tighten nuclear security after Fukushima, watchdog says, By RFI 17 November 2011 France must urgently improve safety in its 58 nuclear reactors in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster, an official report published Thursday said. The head of the French nuclear watchdog warned of “small faults that could have serious consequences”. Continue reading
France – politics – opposition to nuclear power
Green party presidential candidate Eva Joly has denounced claims of hundreds of thousands of job losses as “scandalous lies” and said 600,000 jobs would be created by tapping alternative energy sources like solar and wind power.
Sarkozy has insisted he will continue supporting nuclear energy, saying the Fukushima disaster was “not a nuclear accident, it was an enormous tsunami”…..
France opposition to reduce nuclear power , SMH, Michael Mainville,November 17, 2011 – France’s long-held support for nuclear energy has emerged as a key issue in next year’s election after the opposition Socialists and Greens agreed to joint efforts to reduce reliance on atomic power.
The deal marks the first significant move toward limiting nuclear power in France Continue reading
France grapples with the eternal unsolved problem of nuclear wastes
A pyramid to warn of a French nuclear waste site?, By Muriel Boselli, PARIS | Tue Nov 8, 2011 (Reuters) – How can mankind signal to future generations thousands of years from now that hazardous radioactive waste is buried deep underground in eastern France — by building a giant pyramid, a museum or a site for art projects or by employing geology? Continue reading
France’s spy court case shows up dirty tactics of nuclear lobby
This spying scandal and verdict against EDF couldn’t have come at a worse time for the global nuclear industry
Nuclear giant EDF found guilty of spying on
Greenpeace, Greenpeace, by JustinMcKeating – November 10, 2011, As the great Mahatma Gandhi (nearly) said, ”First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they spy on you, then you win”.
That’s pretty much the chain of events that lead to today’s conviction by a French court of French state electricity company, Electricité de France SA (EDF) for spying on us. The court fined the company 1.5 million Euros and ordered it to pay €500,000 in damages to Greenpeace France. In addition, the court sent the four men involved, two of them senior EDF executives, to jail as well – and fined three of them. Continue reading
France to consider all nuclear options, including exit from nuclear power
French 2050 committee will consider all nuclear options: BessonParis (Platts)- –Anna Crowley, -8 Nov 2011 A committee tasked with reviewing France’s energy supply options to 2050 will consider all options for nuclear energy, energy minister Eric Besson said Tuesday.
Besson told a Paris conference that scenarios under review included expanding the lifespans of existing reactors, “accelerating” the move towards a new generation of third- or fourth-generation nuclear reactors, a gradual reduction of nuclear’s share of the energy mix and full exit from nuclear generation. …. Continue reading
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
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