Uranium price falling – AREVA stops African project
Areva suspends uranium mine project, SMH ,November 3, 2011 – French nuclear giant Areva says it is suspending a mining project in the Central African Republic for “a year or two” because of a drop in uranium prices since the Fukushima disaster.
Work on developing the Bakouma mine, which is estimated to hold about 32,000 tonnes of uranium, has been suspended until the market value of the commodity rises again, an Areva spokesman said on Wednesday……
The price of uranium subsequently dropped by about 30 per cent, at a time when Areva was hoping for a global nuclear power renaissance.
On Wednesday the price of a pound (450 grams) of uranium was at $US52 ($A50.49), down from $US68 in March before the accident…..
Areva began development works at the mine under a deal signed in 2007 and to date has spent 106 million euros on developing the site.
The 2007 deal ended friction between Areva and the country’s authorities, who had handed mining rights to British-Canadian firm UraMin in 2006.
Areva bought out UraMin in July 2007 to the displeasure of the government, which said the “irregular” sale showed “disregard for the rights and interests” of the Central African people…..
Areva is expected to present a plan next month on a rethink of its corporate strategies in the wake of the Japanese disaster.
AREVA’s uranium mining revenues fall
Areva 9-month revenues fall 3.5 pct,
By Caroline Jacobs and Christian Plumb PARIS, Oct 27 (Reuters) – French nuclear group Areva posted a 3.5 percent decline in nine-month sales on Thursday, squeezed by weakness in its uranium mining and waste-processing businesses.
Revenues reached 5.95 billion euros ($8.4 billion) and were down 1.5 percent on a like-for-like basis, state-owned Areva said in a statement. For the third-quarter alone, revenues fell 2.9 percent to 1.95 billion euros, Areva said, without providing details about specific business lines’ performance for the period…..
Since the nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima power plant in March, order cancellations have been just 301 million euros, Areva said.
Countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Italy have shelved nuclear plans after the incident, but others such as Britain, Poland or the Czech Republic said they would go ahead with the construction of new plants.
Areva is assessing what consequences Fukushima will have on its business and will announce its five-year strategy plan in December….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/27/aereva-revenue-idUSL5E7LR5BZ20111027
At last, France reveals, and questions, the safety of its nuclear industry
institutions are showing greater boldness in convicting nuclear operators guilty of negligence or issuing reprimands and demanding immediate corrective measures from giants like EDF or Areva..
With accusing fingers increasingly pointing towards the nuclear industry, a hesitant debate is beginning to open up in France. Socialist leader Segolene Royal who was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy in France’s last presidential poll but hopes once again to be her party’s candidate, said she would close down the EPR under construction at Flamanville and completely abandon the EPR technology being pushed by Areva.
Post-Fukushima, France breaks silence on nuclear safety, The Hindu VAIJUNARAVANE, 11 Oct 11 “…….Doubts have been raised about the benefits of the EPR reactor, of which India plans to buy six. For a country as given to debate and argument as France, there has been a deafening silence surrounding the choice of nuclear as the prime source of energy. With a population of 62 million, France boasts 59 nuclear reactors — the highest per capita in the world, with over 75 per cent of its electricity coming from the power of the atom.
In the post-Fukushima period, however, that tacit silence is being broken with increasing frequency not just by anti-nuclear associations or candidates hoping to win elections but by French courts and the Nuclear Safety Authority. Continue reading
France increases fines, cracks down on anti nuclear protestors
Post-Fukushima, France breaks silence on nuclear safety, The Hindu VAIJU 
NARAVANE, 11 Oct 11 “…….France has always come down hard on any anti-nuclear protests and there has been very little debate on the decision taken in the 1950s or under the post-oil-crisis Messmer Plan of 1974, to wholeheartedly embrace nuclear energy. An appeals court in the northern city of Caen on September 27, upped the fines slapped on Greenpeace France for occupying the nuclear site at Flamanville (Normandy) where France’s first EPR reactor is under construction.
Greenpeace France will now have to pay €2,500 instead of the initial €1,500 and individual protesters will have to cough up fines of €200 each. The French electricity giant EDF, which is the constructor and future operator of the reactor, had called for damages and interest amounting to €155,000…. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2526288.ece
Delays, defects, and “social dumping” in France’s Flamanville nuclear reactor
Post-Fukushima, France breaks silence on nuclear safety The Hindu VAIJU NARAVANE, 11 Oct 11“…….Construction of the Flamanville EPR reactor which began in 2007 is experiencing significant delays with a large number of accidents including two fatalities. The EPR reactor, of which India plans to buy six, will now not be completed before 2016 at the earliest and its price tag has climbed to an estimated €7 billion per reactor of 1,650MWe capacity. Not a single EPR is as yet operational.
Of the four currently under construction, (one each in France and Finland, two in China) the Finnish reactor (construction began in August1985) is now slated to go on stream in 2013 but costs have risen from €3 billion to over €7 billion and the Finnish utility TVO is locked in costly arbitration (€2.7 billion) with Areva….. Continue reading
AREVA company convicted of radioactive water pollution
AREVA-SOCATRI was finally convicted of the offense of water pollution, in addition to his conviction for delay in reporting an incident.
Areva-Socatri convicted of water pollution: an unprecedented legal victory! , September 30, the Court of Appeal of Nîmes condemned AREVA-SOCATRI of water pollution, as a result of the appeal including the Network “Sortir du nucléaire”. This sentence follows the unprecedented radioactive leaks detected on the Tricastin nuclear site in July 2008.
Located between Valence and Avignon, the Tricastin nuclear site includes both treatment plants and four fuel nuclear power reactors in operation. SOCATRI society, located on this site, ensures the maintenance and dismantling of radioactive materials and nuclear waste treatment and industrial companies AREVA Tricastin. Continue reading
Nuclear industry winding down, just look at Flamanville
It has to be acknowledged that, irrespective of Fukushima, new nuclear build was never going to be plain sailing from a technical or financial standpoint.
Just ask EDF, the French state-controlled utility which is currently building the first new nuclear plant in that country for 15 years …
Bailing out on nuclear, The Engineer, [UK] 30 September 2011 | By Andrew Czyzewski “………according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) six developing countries interested in developing a civil nuclear programme have notified it that they have abandoned their plans….
It’s not only politicians and their subjects getting nervous though. Continue reading
Uphill struggle for French nuclear company AREVA
During her 12-year tenure, former Chief Executive Anne Lauvergeon bet on a nuclear
renaissance and loaded up the company with debt and expanded its operations. But despite the sales pitch, the nuclear renaissance never quite happened.
At Areva, New CEO Confronts a Delicate Job, WSJ, By MAX COLCHESTER And GERALDINE AMIEL, 30 Sept 11 PARIS—Areva SA’s new chief executive faces the delicate task of steering the global nuclear-engineering giant through a widespread industry slowdown. Continue reading
Nuclear Reprocessing not looking good, following France’s nuclear accident
French Nuke Accident Leads India To Reexamine Its Nuclear Ambitions, Forbes, Erica Giles, 20 Sept 11, “……..reprocessing is no silver bullet; in fact, it has created a bitter divide among nuclear experts – and not just because it can be a gateway to proliferation, as India itself so aptly demonstrated in 1974. “At this point, it’s like creationism versus evolution,” said Edwin Lyman, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, indicating that in his view, the anti-reprocessing camp has science on its side.
Reprocessing via the current commercial-scale process used in France, called PUREX, recovers only a small amount of additional energy and is more expensive than using virgin uranium, he said. And instead of reducing waste, it merely changes its form. “There’s no feasible, practical way to take material from the waste and use it in a nuclear power system so you could get rid of it over any kind of reasonable time frame,” he said.
Many Indians are protesting their country’s rapid nuclear expansion, most recently exemplified by a mass fast in Tamil Nadu state against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project. But neither their concerns nor nuclear accidents are likely to alter India’s plans…. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericagies/2011/09/19/french-nuclear-explosion-causes-india-to-think-hard-about-its-nuclear-ambitions/
According to France an explosion in its nuclear re-processing plant was not a nuclear accident!
The IAEA does not appear particularly inclined to bow to French demands to classify Monday’s fatal blast as a non-nuclear industrial accident.
France in damage-limitation mode,THE HINDU, PARIS, September 13, 2011 VAIJU NARAVANE France went into damage-limitation mode following a blast at a nuclear re-processing plant on Monday which killed one person and injured four….
France is one of the world’s leading exporters of nuclear technology and authorities were quick to minimise the seriousness of the explosion. Industry Minister Eric Besson speaking to journalists described the event as “an industrial accident and not a nuclear incident”. Continue reading
France’s campaign to win public over to nuclear power
state-controlled Electricite de France SA, the world’s biggest reactor operator, is stepping up a campaign to make the French better appreciate nuclear power……..
“French public opinion after Fukushima has become increasingly anti-nuclear,” …EDF’s efforts to reassure the French public
Just last year, there were 1,107 incidents at French nuclear plants, with 143 requiring public notification,
France Opens Doors to Nuclear Sites to Woo Public Post-Fukushima, By Tara Patel, Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) Every year at a weekend-long “heritage” event, France throws open doors to centuries-old castles and monuments. This year, for the first time, the list will include an unusual entry: nuclear plants. Continue reading
“Industrial accident” is the new wobbly word for “nuclear accident”
In a frantic attempt to decontaminate its reputation, EdF announced the explosion was ‘an industrial accident, not a nuclear accident’Does EdF, like us, think ‘nuclear’ is a dirty word? Edf’s distinction that doesn’t make sense when you consider the explosion occurred at a furnace used to burn low-level nuclear waste in a facility that also processes high-level nuclear waste. Could it be that EdF worries more about its reputation than the people it employs?
Explosion at Marcoule: nuclear industry spin hits overdrive, Greenpeace, by Justin McKeating – September 14, 2011 The first and most important thing to remember about Monday’s explosion at the Marcoule nuclear facility in southern France is that one man was tragically killed and four others were injured. Our condolences and thoughts are with their family and friends.
With this mind, the haste with which the French nuclear companies EdF and AREVA rushed out their spin in the first hours after the accident appears all the more unseemly. Continue reading
Low demand for uranium: AREVA limits production
Areva suspends some uranium production after Japan quake Google News, 16 Sept 11, PARIS — French nuclear giant Areva is suspending uranium production at two plants because of low demand from Japanese power stations in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Continue reading India’s nuclear regulators to study France’s nuclear accident
| AERB to study French nuclear accident, Business Standard |
| Sanjay Jog / Mumbai September 15, 2011, 0:22 IST |
| India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) would conduct a comprehensive study on the accident in a nuclear waste recycling plant in southern France which killed one man and injured four others. |
At the Centre for Treatment and Conditioning of Low-level Radioactive Waste, or Centraco, in Codolet, an oven dedicated to melt low radioactive metallic waste exploded inside the building on Monday. The radioactivity was contained inside the building. AERB would also look anew at safety measures on nuclear waste disposal and treatment facilities at nuclear power plants….http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/aerb-to-study-french-nuclear-accident/449216/
AREVA cuts back new nuclear power projects by 30%
Areva Cuts Outlook for Nuclear Plant Projects, CEO Tells Echos, Bloomberg, By Stephen Taylor – Sep 14, 2011 Areva SA cut by 30 percent its outlook for growth in nuclear plant orders through 2030 as Japan’s nuclear disaster dims prospects for atomic projects, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Luc Oursel toldLes Echos….. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-14/areva-cuts-outlook-for-nuclear-plant-projects-ceo-tells-echos.html
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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