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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/

September 21, 2011 Posted by | France, reprocessing | Leave a comment

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 →

September 21, 2011 Posted by | France, spinbuster | Leave a comment

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 →

September 16, 2011 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

“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 →

September 16, 2011 Posted by | France, spinbuster | Leave a comment

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 →

September 16, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, France, Uranium | Leave a comment

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/

September 15, 2011 Posted by | France, safety | Leave a comment

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

September 15, 2011 Posted by | France | Leave a comment

France’s need for transparency and nationwide check on nuclear plants

French FM: France to have safety checks on every nuclear power plant nationwide, English.news.cn   2011-09-14 Editor: Mu Xuequan BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) –– Alain Juppe, the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and State Minister, said on Tuesday in Beijing that France would soon conduct a nationwide examination on each of its nuclear power plants.

The French government will also cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to raise the maximum security level of its nuclear installations, according to Juppe. The French government had already decided to continue its nuclear programs after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, said Juppe…

Concerning the nuclear accident in the south of France, Juppe said he hadn’t got the latest news of the investIgation, but French authorities would announce the results of investigation with the utmost transparency.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Yukiya Amano said on Monday that the IAEA had sent a request to French authorities for more information and underlined the need to address nuclear safety.

An explosion hit France’s Marcoule nuclear site on Monday, one person was killed and four injured in the accident. The country’s energy ministry said there was no danger of a radiation leak. ..http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-09-14

September 14, 2011 Posted by | France, safety | Leave a comment

A political and economic embarrassment – France’s accident at nuclear site

France on edge after accident at nuclear site, The Independent By John Lichfield in Paris, 13 September 2011 France was yesterday quick to play down the significance of an explosion in a nuclear waste recycling plant in the south of the country which killed one man and injured four others.  Ministers said the blast, close to the Marcoule nuclear power station, near Avignon, was an “industrial accident” and not an explosion in, or near, a nuclear reactor. There had been no radioactive leak and no need to evacuate workers or local people.

The explosion at the sprawling Marcoule site on the banks of the Rhône – one of the oldest and largest nuclear facilities in France – is nonetheless a political and economic embarrassment to the French government. France is more dependent on nuclear-generated electricity – 79 per cent – than any other country in the world. It also has a powerful nuclear export industry.

Since the calamity at the Fukushima plant in Japan in March, France has been at pains to reassure its citizens, and potential foreign buyers, of the safety of its own nuclear technology. Environmental groups called yesterday on the French government, traditionally secretive on nuclear questions, to allow “total transparency” and an independent investigation of the Marcoule blast

The pressure-group France Nature Environnement (FNE), which has 3,000 member associations, said the accident “underlines the problems with control of nuclear risks in France”. The significance of nuclear accidents has sometimes been obscured by French authorities in the past, FNE pointed out.

Famously, the French government announced in 1986 that the radioactive nuclear cloud from the Chernobyl explosion in the Ukraine had “stopped at the French frontier”…. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-on-edge-after-accident-at-nuclear-site-2353692.html

September 13, 2011 Posted by | France, safety | Leave a comment

France’s Marcoule nuclear site – doubts on its safety

the priority was to get the job done – to meet the military imperative of fuel production, to irradiate whatever needed irradiating, without much of a thought about how the facilities would eventually be rendered safe. Marcoule is now dealing with the legacy of radioactive waste that created….

The French nuclear programme does not have a stellar record of transparency…..What the incident implies for the future of the French nuclear programme is not entirely clear….

Marcoule’s long nuclear history, By Richard Black, BBC News 12 September 2011 The Marcoule site is one of the oldest in France, and played a significant role in the development of the French nuclear and thermonuclear deterrents. It opened in 1956 – well after the US began the era of nuclear armaments, at a time when France was among the nations looking to gain their own seat at the nuclear table. Continue reading →

September 13, 2011 Posted by | France, safety | Leave a comment

A nuclear cost chain reaction – explosively expensive

So, the construction of nuclear is stalling and the costs are rising. Contrast that with renewable energy, where installations are surging, and most of the technologies are coming down in price as they mature and reach scale....

Nuclear power’s real chain reaction: spiralling costs, The Guardian (UK) Damian Carrington, 22 July 11, Time is money, they say, and the new nuclear power plant being built byEDF at Flamanville in France is now at least four years behind time and €2.7bn over budget. EDF blamed the delay on two fatal construction accidents and dealing with safety analyses prompted by the Fukushima disaster. Continue reading →

July 22, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, France | 1 Comment

More delays, more cost blowouts for France’s “new generation” nuclear plant

The reactor has already faced repeated delays and run billions of euros over budget…….

France delays new generation nuclear plant, News Tribune, July 21, 2011 – Tacoma, WA, PARIS — France’s electricity giant announced Wednesday it is delaying its new generation nuclear reactor for two years after a pair of deadly accidents and safety reviews prompted by the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. Continue reading →

July 21, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Offshore wind energy for France

France says ‘oui’ to offshore wind energy, Smart Planet, By Melissa Mahony | July 13, 2011, Nuclear plants often spring to mind when thinking of the French electric power regime. But the country is dipping its toes into the Atlantic and English Channel for some of its energy needs, joining a few of its neighbors in the offshore wind business. Across Europe, offshore wind farms have a total capacity of almost 3,000 megawatts, according to the EWEA. By 2020, France hopes to add 6,000 megawatts to it.

 

On Monday, the French government began asking for project proposals for 5 zones off the northern and western coasts near Saint-Nazaire and Le Tréport, respectively. The $14 billion call did not go unanswered. Six companies (Dong Energy, EDF Energies Nouvelles, Alstom,Nass&Wind Offshore, Poweo ENR, and wpd offshore) have been gearing up to go to sea. They announced a consortium yesterday to help get the country’s first offshore turbines built, up and whirring….

France has been looking to expand its renewable portfolio, even toying with the idea of abandoning its notable nuclear program. In 2010….its first wind turbines could hit the water as early as 2015. Alstom says it hopes to design, manufacture, and assemble the turbines all in France using French technology…..http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/france-says-8216oui-to-offshore-wind-energy/7604

July 14, 2011 Posted by | France, renewable | Leave a comment

France moving towards renewable energy, despite AREVA and other nuclear lobbies

Critics have accused France’s nuclear lobby – made up of the industry’s powerful unions and its state-controlled companies EDF and Areva – of impeding renewable investment.

France aims to rebalance its energy mix, FT.com By Peggy Hollinger, 10 July 11, France will on Monday begin a big push on renewable energy that could signal a weakening in the traditional hold of nuclear power over a country that has long led the field in atomic energy.

“Our objective is to rebalance the energy mix in favour of renewables,” said Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, ecology minister, in an interview with the Financial Times as she prepared to launch a €10bn ($14.2bn) tender for five new offshore windpower farms. Continue reading →

July 10, 2011 Posted by | France, renewable | Leave a comment

France rejects compensatioin for its Pacific atomic test victims

France says no to Pacific compensation, VIDEO from Australia Network News, Nuclear veterans disappointed, Radio Australia News, Geraldine Coutts, 06 Jul 2011 

French Polynesia’s nuclear test veterans say they are shocked and disappointed at France’s decision to reject their compensation claims.The rejection comes two years after Paris formally acknowledged that nuclear weapon tests in French Polynesia were not clean and there was an obligation to pay compensation.

There was legislation passed to allow for compensation, but now France has rejected seven out of eight compensation claims filed by veterans. In the 30 years to 1996, France carried out almost 200 nuclear tests in French Polynesia, including 42 atmospheric tests held despite opposition from residents.

President of French Polynesia’s nuclear test veterans organisation, Roland Oldham, has told Pacific Beat the rejections show France is not committed to compensating the veterans.

“As far as we’re concerned, it is clear that the French government does not [plan] to take any responsibility in compensation,” he said.

“[It] is only some sort of masquerade to make the world believe that France is making a big speech, that France is paying compensation for the victims.

“But the matter of fact is France is not really going to pay compensation – that’s a feeling we have from this result.”

Mr Oldham said the French Government was triying to “delay as much as we can to discourage first the victims, and secondly, to hope that in five or 10 years time there will be no former workers alive and it will be even harder for the family to get the paper together.”

“That’s what they’re trying to do.” http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/story.htm?id=41838

July 10, 2011 Posted by | France, politics, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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