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France’s 3 nuclear agencies must present safety plans by June 30

French Nuclear Safety Body Imposes Security Works On Industry Fox News By Hugo Passarello June 28, 2012 Nuclear energy industry players in France will have to carry out “considerable” work to strengthen security at nuclear facilities, including sizeable investments in human resources and technical skills, said a report by France’s independent nuclearsafety regulator Thursday.
In a statement, the Autorite de Surete Nucleaire, or ASN, announced 32 decisions, including measures relating to Electricite de France’s SA (EDF.FR) nuclear power stations, French nuclear engineering company Areva’s SA (AREVA.FR) installations, and reactors of the French atomic agency, known as the CEA.
As part of the measures, all nuclear sites will have to have “hard-core” compounds which provide robust premises to be used in event of an serious incident.
The three nuclear players are required to present on June 30 the details of materials needed and deadlines for the compounds, said the ASN.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/06/28/french-nuclear-safety-body-imposes-security-works-on-industry/#ixzz1zDlPR48Q

June 29, 2012 Posted by | France, safety | Leave a comment

AREVA nuclear power company is in trouble

This renaissance is just a fairy tale, THE HINDU, 15 June 12, “…….In India, In Kalpakkam, , the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor was slotted to contribute to the grid in March 2012. In 2005, Baldev Raj, Director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, boasted that the 500 MW unit will be completed in 2010, 18 months before schedule.

Till date, there is no sign of this happening. The Kudankulam plant, which is now 23 years old since conception, lost only eight months due to protestors. In Jaitapur too, the government has more to worry about than local protestors.

Areva, the technology supplier, is in trouble. Last year, it announced losses of €1.6 billion, and the sacking of 1,200 workers in Germany. Last June, it decided to suspend production at a Virginia reactor component plant due to declining market prospects. Its expansion plans in France, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. may never materialise. Areva expected to sell 50 nuclear reactors this decade. It has not received a single order since 2007.

Now, with a socialist president at the helm in France, Areva’s future looks even more uncertain. French President François Hollande had promised voters a reduction in nuclear dependence from 75 to 50 per cent, and shutdown of an aging reactor in Fessenheim. Whether or not he carries through with these promises, it appears certain that no new
plants will be built or planned during his term.

Both conservative-led Germany and socialist France will make up the shortfall from the
nuclear phase-out, by investing in renewables for electricity and new jobs. In replacing nuclear with renewables, these nations are declaring that despite its carbon dividend, nuclear is too risky — financially, politically and environmentally — to pursue.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3528968.ece

June 18, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, France, Reference | Leave a comment

Nuclear companies compete desperately for sales, prices offered below costs!

French Nuclear Watchdog Says Orders Won At Too-Low Prices Bloomberg, By Francois de Beaupuy – Jun 6, 2012  Nuclear-reactor makers are offering prices too low to cover costs to win orders abroad in a strategy that puts earnings at risk, the head of the industry’s watchdog in France said. “Export contracts for nuclear plants are being obtained at pure dumping-level prices,” Andre-Claude Lacoste, head of the Autorite de Surete Nucleaire regulator, said today at a conference organized by L’Usine Nouvelle magazine in Paris.

“Prices accepted by vendors and obtained by buyers are unsustainable,” Lacoste said. “There aren’t many tenders, which is why competitors are ripping each other off. It’s already a serious matter, and we need to make sure that there’s no dumping on safety on top of that.”
Areva SA (AREVA), the world’s largest provider of nuclear equipment and services, has booked more than 2.8 billion euros ($3.5 billion) of costs since 2005 because of delays and cost overruns at an atomic plant it’s building in Finland. The Paris-based company and General Electric Co. (GE) were beaten in 2009 on a four- reactor order in the United Arab Emirates by Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEP) in the Seoul-based company’s first export contract……. Areva is preparing
bids or in talks to sell reactors in countries including China, India, the U.K., the Czech Republic and Poland. In Finland, Areva faces GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (7011) and Toshiba Corp. (6502) in a tender next year.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-06/french-nuclear-watchdog-says-orders-won-at-too-low-prices.html

June 7, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear dilemma – costs of shutting aged reactors

Nuclear Europe: a dream unwinding, China Dialogue, Steve Thomas June 06, 2012“…… the real challenge – regardless of whether Hollande or Sarkozy had won the election – was always going to be what to do about France’s existing plants when they reach the end of their lives. Under present plans, these ageing reactors will be retired at a rate of five to six per year from 2017 onwards. The cheaper option for the country’s power giant EDF would be to do as the Americans and extend the plants’ lifespans from 40 to 60 years, though thanks to post-Fukushima regulatory requirements that existing plants be made more robust for “extreme situations” this is not such a cheap option as it once was.

Such a move would also likely sound the death knell for Areva’s problematic European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), the design causing huge delays and cost overruns at Olkiluoto in Finland and Flamanville in France. Both projects are running four years or more late and about 100% over budget. Without new French orders from Areva – a French company – the design would lose all credibility.

On the other hand, if France takes the route of replacing old reactors with EPRs, assuming problems around cost, licensing and construction can be solved, and the EPR remains a viable option, then the cost to EDF of replacing old capacity would be astronomical – far higher than first time around. It is doubtful that France could sustain the logistical and financial challenge of ordering and building four or five EPRs a year for a decade. It would also have to start paying huge sums for decommissioning existing reactors. That leaves France facing some tough choices…. http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4956

June 7, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, decommission reactor, France | Leave a comment

AREVA looks to China to save its nuclear export industry

Areva sets nuclear sights on China http://www.brecorder.com/fuel-a energy/193/1196628/ JUNE 04, 2012 RECORDER REPORT   French nuclear group Areva said it is prepared to put its mid-sized Atmea1 reactor into direct competition with a future Franco-Chinese reactor it hopes to help develop in an effort to sweep into China’s booming electricity market.

The head of Areva’s reactors and services division told Reuters it expects to know this year if it has a role to play in the construction of a 1,000 megawatt (MW) third-generation reactor alongside China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co (CGNPC) and French utility EDF. That reactor would compete with the 1,100 MW Atmea1 pressurised water reactor (PWR) that Areva and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) have developed through their Atmea joint venture.

“If the new product or the development of the product corresponds to a clear opening of the Chinese market, to important industrial returns for us and with the support of EDF and CGNPC, I have no qualms about cannibalising Atmea1, and neither does MHI,” Claude Jaouen said in an interview.

The Franco-Chinese project is in a preliminary phase with EDF, CGNPC and Areva, in agreement with MHI, looking to see to what extent the reactor can resemble Atmea1 and at what cost.

Under France’s previous government, the Nuclear Policy Council last year decided to forge a partnership with China to build a new type of nuclear reactor, widening France’s nuclear range with a cheaper and smaller model than the 1,600 MW EPR reactor, which has suffered from cost overruns and delays.

June 6, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Nuclear physicist plotted terrorist attack

Nuclear researcher sentenced in France for plotting attack  (Reuters) 4 May 12, – A Paris court sentenced a Franco-Algerian nuclear physicist to five years in prison on Friday on charges of helping to plot an attack in France in 2009 with an al Qaeda militant in Algeria.

Adlene Hicheur, 35, a former researcher at the prestigious CERN physics lab in Geneva, was found guilty of providing logistical advice to Mustapha Debchi, a militant for al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), using encrypted messages sent via the Internet.

Hicheur said he had been charged over his opinions rather than his acts, but prosecutors called him a “technical attack adviser” and said he had provided Debchi with a terrorist manual….. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/04/us-france-crime-idUSBRE8431CK20120504

May 5, 2012 Posted by | France, safety, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Paragliding into a French nuclear power plant!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/02/france-nuclear-greenpeace-idUSL5E8G2F0C20120502

* Greenpeace enters nuclear site, drops smoke flare

* Intrusion just days before presidential runoff

* France’s high use of nuclear is issue in campaign

* Man entered Civaux plant’s security zone (Adds separate intrusion, details)

PARIS, May 2 (Reuters) – A Greenpeace activist dropped a smoke flare as he flew over a French nuclear reactor on a paraglider on Wednesday, seeking to draw attention to what green activists call gaps in nuclear security four days before a presidential election runoff. The plant’s owner, EDF, confirmed an engine-powered paraglider had landed within its Bugey nuclear site in southeastern France.  [ note – there’s  a  brief video of this flight at: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/02/11504375-greenpeace-bombs-french-nuclear-reactor-could-it-happen-in-us?lite ]

The pilot flew over the plant and threw a red-smoke flare on the roof of a building before landing, television images showed.  Continue reading →

May 3, 2012 Posted by | France, safety | Leave a comment

Losses and falling demand for uranium – AREVA to sell off nuclear radiation measurement unit

Areva Said to Commence Sale of Nuclear Unit Canberra , Bloomberg, By Anne-Sylvaine Chassany and Francois de Beaupuy – May 2, Areva , the largest nuclear reactor maker, has started a process to sell its nuclear radiation measurement unit Canberra, three people with knowledge of the plans said.
The state-controlled company based in Paris sent financial information to potential bidders for the asset, which may fetch as much as 400 million euros ($526 million), said the people, who declined to be identified as the talks are private. Canberra posted earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about 30 million euros, they said.

Areva Chief Executive Officer Luc Oursel, who took over from Anne Lauvergeon in June, plans to sell at least 1.2 billion euros of non-strategic assets by the end of 2013 to shore up a balance sheet that’s been impaired by the acquisition of uranium mines in Africa, losses at a nuclear reactor under construction in Finland and falling demand for nuclear fuel following last year’s accident at an atomic plant in Japan…. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-02/areva-said-to-commence-sale-of-nuclear-unit-canberra.html

May 3, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

French Presidential candidate to support Pacific Islanders where atom bombs were tested

Hollande vows more transparency over nuclear tests in French Polynesia http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=67463 Radio New Zealand,  12 April, 2012  The Socialist candidate for the French presidency, Francois Hollande, has promised French Polynesians that he would go to the bottom of the issue of the aftermath of the nuclear weapons tests.
In a video message to launch the formal campaign, he says what has been done in the past five years is not worthy, and not up to the expectations in terms of the impact the tests had.
Mr Hollande has promised greater transparency, and also endorses the initiative by French Polynesia’s member of the French Senate, Richard Tuheiava, for Paris to return the two test atolls.

Moruroa and Fangataufa were ceded to France at no cost in 1964 to allow its military to begin atmospheric and then underground nuclear tests. Although France recognised two years ago that its tests were not clean, the compensation law drawn up since has been widely criticise

April 14, 2012 Posted by | France, OCEANIA, politics | Leave a comment

Nuclear election issue in France: former AREVA chief exposed Sarkozy’s manipulations

“Atomic Anne” tries to nuke France’s Sarkozy, Apr 11, 2012   * Ex-CEO says Sarkozy tried to sell reactor to Gaddafi * Government says Lauvergeon’s account is “fiction” * Socialists question EDF boss’ future By Paul Taylor, PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) – Nuclear warfare has broken out between France’s two main political parties 11 days before the first round of a presidential election, with a woman known as “Atomic Anne” launching a strike on President Nicolas Sarkozy. Continue reading →

April 12, 2012 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

“Atomic Annie” spills the beans on Sarkozy’s plan to sell nukes to Gaddafi

Anne Lauvergeon, former chief executive of Areva, said in an interview published on Tuesday on the website of L’Express weekly that Sarkozy proposed in July 2007 to sell a nuclear reactor to the Gaddafi government

Ex-Areva head said Sarkozy hoped to sell Gaddafi nuclear-report http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/10/france-areva-idUSL6E8FA5QU20120410
  PARIS,    By Alexandria Sage; edited by Andrew Roche Apr 10, 2012
(Reuters) – The former head of France’s state-controlled nuclear group Areva accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of wanting to try to sell nuclear power to Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya at least until the summer of 2010, according to a news report. Continue reading →

April 11, 2012 Posted by | France, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

France wants to be sure of not being liable for nuclear accidents, in selling nukes to India

According to the new Rules of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Act, the foreign suppliers of nuclear material to Indian nuclear power plants would not be held liable for accidents caused by defective or faulty equipment supplied by them if the accident takes place after a guarantee period specified by them

France waits for India to clarify N-liability framework  IBN LiveNew Delhi, 5 April 12, : In the midst of the run-up to the French presidential elections, France has been in dialogue with India to clarify issues relating to the nuclear liability law, and is waiting for New Delhi to establish the legal framework before signing commercial contracts for setting up atomic reactors. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | France, India, Legal | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear plant leaks after 2 small fires

Leak Found in French Nuclear Plant http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304072004577326322716346232.html?mod=googlenews_wsj By NADYA MASIDLOVER WSJ, 6 April 12, PARIS—French state-controlled utility Electricité de France SA said late Thursday that a leak was detected at one of its nuclear reactors in northwestern France, after two small fires were extinguished at the site earlier in the day.

France’s nuclear regulator said it had provisionally ranked the leak as a low-level incident and had returned to normal management of the situation after shifting to crisis mode earlier in the day. In a statement, EDF said that a faulty joint on a pump used to cool the reactor had caused a leak inside the reactor building of its nuclear power station in Penly, Normandy. The water from the leak is currently collected in circuits which exist for this use, the company said.

The reactor, which automatically halted after the fire, continues to be cooled normally and the plant teams are working to reduce the pressure and the temperature of the water in the circuit, according to EDF.

Even after a reactor is halted, the nuclear fuel continues to generate heat and must be cooled continuously.

French nuclear safety body, Autorité de Sureté Nucléaire, said it continues to analyze the situation and follow its evolution. The regulator said the incidents had no consequence on the environment.

Earlier in the evening, a spokeswoman for EDF said that lubricant from one of the reactor’s cooling pumps had leaked on the floor, generating smoke and small flames inside the reactor building. The two small fires were extinguished Thursday afternoon.

April 6, 2012 Posted by | France, incidents | Leave a comment

Energy transition in Europe as nuclear power exits

The number of economically competitive non-nuclear options has therefore grown alongside the growing number of non-fossil options.

Europe’s Nuclear Exit Strategy The Market Oracle, Mar 30, 2012   By: Andrew_McKillop“.….NUCLEAR EXIT: THE SYMBOL OF ENERGY TRANSITION Even in France, where decades of state brainwashing on the benefits of nuclear power had created an apparent public-and-political consensus in favour of the Friendly Atom, opinion polls now indicate a straight majority of French want to quit nuclear power.

This opinion shift is powerfully aided by now much better information becoming available on the fantastic subsidies and support that have gone to French civil nuclear power since its very origins in 1957.

Also due to the sheer size of the French nuclear power system and its age, decommissioning will produce impossible to hide impacts on the power bills of all
consumers and users, in a context where new-build reactors to replace retired and dismantled reactors (in a process that can take 30 years for each reactor) are prohibitively costly, at admitted costs as high as 6500 euro per kiloWatt (close to US$ 9000 per kW) for Areva’s “Generation III” EPRs. Continue reading →

March 31, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Terrorist trial. French nuclear physicist in court

French nuclear physicist in terror trial, ANGOP International, 30 March 12, France – An Algerian-born former nuclear physicist accused of plotting with al-Qaida’s north African arm to attack a French military base or economic interests went on trial Thursday, insisting he never took any step toward carrying out terrorism — and simply exchanged ideas online.

Adlene Hicheur, 35, who used to work at Europe’s most prestigious particle accelerator, welcomed the chance to make his case: He’s been in prison for 2-1/2 years awaiting trial. But  his allies worry the timing could not be worse: it comes days after France’s biggest terror  attacks in years.

The case centers on about 35 emails between Hicheur and an alleged contact with Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb named Mustapha Debchi, who tried to convince him to carry out a suicide bombing. Hicheur declined, but in one response suggested striking at the barracks of a battalion of elite Alpine troops in the eastern town Cran-Gevrier…..
http://www.portalangop.co.ao/motix/en_us/noticias/internacional/2012/2/13/French-nuclear-physicist-terror-trial,bc4864d4-15c9-4a41-9e39-1382e5d678b9.html

March 31, 2012 Posted by | France, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

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