France « nuclear-news

Some anxiety in the French nuclear industry

French nuclear sector re-thinks strategy after UAE setback Sydney Morning Herald December 30, 2009 The French nuclear power sector is to re-focus its strategy, notably in Britain and the United States, after losing out to a South Korean consortium on a $US20.4 billion ($A22.99 billion) project in the United Arab Emirates……….. Continue reading →

December 30, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

Anxiety in France about nuclear industry’s future

French nuclear sector re-thinks strategy after UAE setback Sydney Morning Herald December 30, 2009 The French nuclear power sector is to re-focus its strategy, notably in Britain and the United States, after losing out to a South Korean consortium on a $US20.4 billion ($A22.99 billion) project in the United Arab Emirates……….. Continue reading →

December 30, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

French nuclear test victims to jump hurdles to get compensation

Compensation will be decided on a case-by-case basis. Victims are to submit a claim to a committee

France to compensate people who suffered health problems from nuclear tests Google News By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP) – 23 Dec ARIS — France’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law to compensate victims of nuclear tests in Algeria and the South Pacific, a response to decades of complaints by people sickened by radiation. Continue reading →

December 23, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, Legal | antinuclear, France, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear energy not cheap, not clean,

Greenpeace debunks nuclear benefit – “expanding global nuclear capacity would be accompanied by costs of nearly $10 trillion.” Malaysia Business Insight BY PAUL ICAMINA

NUCLEAR’S contribution in easing climate change is “too little, too late,” the anti-nuclear group Greenpeace said. Continue reading →

December 18, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs, climate change | antinuclear, AREVA, Copenhagen, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear power troubled in extreme weather

French Nuclear Power Struggles in a Cold Snap Business Week by: Carol Matlack on December 16 “…… the system also has shortcomings, as became evident this week when a cold snap sent electricity demand soaring. Continue reading →

December 17, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France | antinuclear, AREVA, climate change, EDF, France, nuclear | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear agency gets euro-billions and a changed nam

France puts into future nuclear World Nuclear News 15 December 2009 ...Next-generation nuclear is to receive a billion-euro boost thanks to a French investment program. Meanwhile the country’s main nuclear research body has been re-branded. Initial details of a spending plan worth €35 billion ($51 billion) were announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday………

…..the organisation is from now on to be known as the Commission of Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy – for which French officials have decided to use the same initials, CEA.

France puts into future nuclear

December 16, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, spinbuster | antinuclear, France, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

France to boost its nuke industry, seeks foreign investors

France seeks foreign cash to grow nuclear sector

PARIS, Dec 14 (Reuters) By Nina Sovich – France pledged 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to support next generation reactor design and said it would seek foreign capital to back its move to the forefront of nuclear energy expansion.

The investment is part of a 35 billion-euro spending plan French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sarkozy unveiled on Monday aimed at improving France’s competitiveness. ………………. The French government, which owns majority stakes in both nuclear reactor maker Areva (CEPFi.PA) and utility giant EDF (EDF.PA), is trying to position France as the market leader in designing and running these power plants…………… To fund these costs, the French government recently asked Areva to sell its electricity business for some 4 billion euros. It has also invited foreign utilities to take stakes in new plants being built in France…………………..

Last month Proglio blasted French energy companies bidding on a contract to build nuclear power plants in Abu Dhabi for its lack of coherence.

December 15, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, climate change, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

AREVA falsifies the facts on nuclear power

For Copenhagen, AREVA makes the false nuclear case Beyond Nuclear 12 Dec 09 In anticipation of the Copenhagen climate conference which began this week, Areva CEO, Anne Lauvergeon, stated during a French radio interview that nuclear power “does not release CO2″ and that it “produces very little waste.”

These remarks were immediately condemned by the leading independent French radiological laboratory -CRIIRAD -who demanded that Lauvergeon take immediate steps to clean up the company’s contaminated African uranium mine sites in Gabon and Niger.

CRIIRAD also reminded Lauvergeon that (1) nuclear releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases, (2) that every stage of the nuclear fuel chain produces large quantities of radioactive wastes for which no safe storage solution has been found and (3) Areva has left populations to live on land or in dwellings contaminated by its activities.

Any decisions made at Copenhagen should not be based on erroneous information emanating from the nuclear industry, CRIIRAD said. From uranium extraction to enrichment, reprocessing and contamination of water supplies, Areva’s nuclear activities leave a virtually permanent trail of highly radioactive waste. The CRIIRAD press release is available in French and contains details of the radioactive contamination caused by Areva’s activities in France and overseas. And see also an article in English from Agence France Presse about Areva’s radioactive contamination in Gabon.

December 11, 2009 Posted by Christina MacPherson | 1 | antinuclear, climate change, global warming, nuclear, radioactive | No Comments Yet | Edit

December 11, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, France, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, Copenhagen, France, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Why don’t they count radioactive wastes in nuclear costing?

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In today’s news we learn that the USA’s existing nuclear wastes could cost $225 billion. Of course, the government is up for these costs, not the nuclear industry. So somehow – well, then, the pretty well eternal waste storage and security is not part of the costing for nuclear power!

That’s a pretty nice bit of sleight of hand, isn’t it? But the non-democracies do it even better. Nobody has any idea what are the real costs of France, Russia, China’s nuclear wastes, nor who actually ends up paying for them.

December 10, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Christina's notes | antinuclear, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

AREVA secretly continuing nuclear waste shipments to Russia

AREVA resumes nuclear waste shipments from France to Russia Nuclear Reaction 10 Dec 09 France has sent 33,000 tonnes of nuclear waste to Russia for reprocessing since 2006? How much of that has come back to France? A mere 3,090 tonnes. That’s less than 10%. The rest is dumped and abandoned in places like the ‘closed’ city of Seversk, the nuclear waste storage facility in Siberia. Some of it is even stored in open air car parks. This is the fabled nuclear safety we’ve heard all about. Continue reading →

December 10, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, France, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reprocessing, wastes | Leave a comment

AREVA’s money troubles: drive to sell its nuclear reactors

FOCUS: Areva Still Needs Cash Despite T&D Sale
CNN Money By Geraldine Amiel, Dow Jones Newswires 4 Dec 09 PARIS – Despite selling its transmission and distribution business for EUR4.1 billion, French state-controlled nuclear engineering Areva SA ( CEI.FR) still needs billions more of funding to realize its substantial expansion program.

And to come up with the EUR7 billion or so of additional money for investment, Areva may have to sell more of its family silver, possibly as soon as 2010. “Financing remains an issue,” SGCIB’s analyst Gael de Bray said…… Continue reading →

December 5, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, business and costs, France | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear energy heading for a shutdown?

Is nuclear energy heading for a Golden Age or a shutdown? Earth Times 30 Nov 2009 “…..incidents at France’s nuclear power stations are increasing, and the industry is currently going through a bad patch, just as it appeared poised to enter a Golden Age. Continue reading →

December 3, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, business and costs, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

French nuclear plant shutdown

French reactor shut down following loss of cooling Nuclear Reaction 3 Dec 09 ‘PARIS – One of four reactors at the Cruas nuclear power station in southern France was shut down late on Tuesday following a lapse in the cooling system, France’s nuclear safety agency said. French energy company EDF reported the incident at 2250 GMT and followed its emergency procedures to shut down the reactor, it added.

The agency said it was still evaluating the seriousness of the incident. The cooling system for the reactors use water from the Rhone River and the incident was due to a high level of plant debris in the river blocking intake, it added.’

Nuclear News: Another French reactor shut down following loss of cooling – Nuclear Reaction – A Greenpeace blog about nuclear power

December 3, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, France, safety | antinuclear, EDF, France, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

UK’s new nuclear plants – future indefinite

New UK nuclear stations unlikely to be on time

BBC Newsnight 25 Nov 09 By Meirion Jones A Newsnight investigation suggests that UK government plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations to fill the energy gap by 2020 are wildly optimistic. Continue reading →

November 28, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, business and costs, UK | AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

Doubts about new nuclear push

What nuclear ‘renaissance’? ‘Major concerns’ about new nuclear reactor designs
Greenpeace 28 Nov 09 Do you know many companies like the nuclear industry who have only one product in their catalogue? There was Ford and the Model T, but that was 100 years ago, and they at least knew how to build and sell it. Continue reading →

November 28, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, France, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment