Bitter row throws French nuclear industry into turmoil

The French nuclear industry is in turmoil as uranium supplies
have dried up and the treatment of spent fu el has been blocked
amid an increasingly bitter row between the heads of its two
main state operators.

EDF, the electricity group that runs 58 reactors in France, said
that Areva, the nuclear energy group, had stopped uranium
deliveries on January 4 and was refusing to take away spent
fuel for reprocessing.

''The transport of combustibles isn't working at the moment,''
Anne Lauvergeon, the chairwoman of Areva, said.

As a result, used fuel is remaining at EDF sites instead of being
reprocessed at La Hague treatment plant in northern France.
Mrs Lauvergeon blamed a breakdown in talks over a new 800
million contract with EDF to process spent fuel.

''We've been talking for too long,' she said, calling on President
Sarkozy's Government to resolve the dispute.

Although Areva supplies 68 per cent of the uranium used in
EDF's reactors, which themselves produce 77 per cent of
electricity in France, the electricity group said it had enough
stocks to last several months without envisaging power cuts.

A spokesman said that it could keep spent fuel at its plants
without risk of a radioactive leak.

But the dispute is certain to damage the reputation of the two
nuclear operators, which are both among the world's biggest.
As insults flew between the two state-owned groups, which are
both significant players in Britain's energy sector, Areva denied
that it had stopped uranium supplies but confirmed EDF's claims
about the block on treating spent fuel.

The dispute comes amid tense relations between Mrs
Lauvergeon and Henri Proglio, who followed his appointment
as chairman of EDF in November with a call for a shake-up of
the French nuclear sector.


Their squabble has been cited as one of the factors behind
France's failure to secure a 30 billion contract to build reactors
in Abu Dhabi. The contract went to a South Korean consortium
led by Korea Electric Power, and Mrs Lauvergeon implicitly
blamed EDF for failing to back her in the negotiations.

''I fully assume my responsibilities and those of Areva, but I don't
intend to assume other people's,'' she said. She added:
'South Korea was ready to do anything to win, in
terms of price and in state financing.''
 
Adam Sage, Paris -- The Times, January 19, 2010
 
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6992750.ec

Do we really want these French companies to build new nuclear power plants in the UK?

Nuclear New Build Conference at London’s Charing Cross Hotel on January 26 and 27.

Industry leaders and expert advisors are set to attend the Nuclear New Build
Conference at London’s Charing Cross Hotel on January 26 and 27.

The annual industry event, organised by think tank C5, brings together
regulators, energy companies, supply chain members and site licence
holders plus leading consultants and legal advisors.

Major industry players such as Westinghouse UK, EDF
Energy, Fluor, Amec, Mott Macdonald, AON, Areva and Atkins Global will
be joined by Ed Miliband MP, Secretary of State for Energy & amp;
Climate Change, who will present the opening keynote address.

Sheffield Forgemasters chief executive Graham Honeyman
is among speakers at the conference which will tackle the hottest
legal, regulatory and contractual issues for the UK supply chain.

“This is a crucial time for supply chain members and
other stakeholders looking to get involved in civil nuclear new build,”
says Dr Honeyman. “Forgemasters has a key role to play in providing
expert knowledge, strategic insight and quality components for current
and future civil nuclear power projects, and also advice at this
critical juncture for UK new build.”

As well as industry leaders and expert advisors,
delegates will include top regulators and Government representatives
including the DECC, Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board,
IAEA, Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority and Environment Agency.


For more info, see the conference's website: http://www.c5nuclear.com/index.html

Prof Tom Burke on BBC Somerset

Former Ministerial Advisor and FoE Director, Professor Tom Burke CBE spoke live on BBC Radio Somerset in advance of the public meeting on Wednesday at Bridgwater Town Hall.

The interview can also be heard on i-player for a week: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/

Tom gave a precis of his talk:

"New nuclear build in Britain makes no useful contribution to either energy or climate security for Britons, the nuclear industry will let us down again as it did before by failing to deliver and in any case will require massive subsidies that are unlikely to be available, the government has been gulled into buying into an energy strategy that will benefit a French nationalised industry and deliver less British jobs than a strategy based on improving energy efficiency and the renewables. I also deal with the intermittency issue for renewables and will argue that we are getting left behind in the transition to a low carbon economy because this government, like others before it, is in hock to the big energy utilities and their City hangers on."

http://www.stophinkley.org/

Kazakhstan will increase uranium production

Guess where the nuclear industry will be getting a lot of its uranium from.
Nice safe, democratic Kazakhstan! As this Reuters report says:

ALMATY, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan will produce 13,900 tonnes of uranium this year and 18,000 tonnes in 2010, state nuclear company Kazatomprom said on Wednesday, raising earlier forecasts.

The Central Asian state became the world's largest uranium producer this year and has been responsible for the bulk of global output growth in the last few years.

"As the nuclear energy industry develops and supplies from secondary sources decrease, a global shortage of uranium is forecast starting from 2016," Kazatomprom said in a statement.

"To cover the expected shortage, an increase in uranium production in Kazakhstan to 18,000 tonnes is planned in 2010."

The company has earlier said it would produce 13,500 tonnes of uranium this year and a state welfare fund official in charge of mining said this month 2010 output would be 15,000 tonnes. Continued...

Kazakhstan produced 8,521 tonnes of uranium last year, up from 6,637 tonnes in 2007.


Kazatomptom's joint ventures with companies such as France's Areva (CEPFi.PA) and Canada's Uranium One (UUU.TO) account for a large share of Kazakh output. (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Kim Coghill)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE5BT04620091230?pageNumber=2

Old blog moved from Celtic Herbs site!

Sunday, 25 October 2009

Mass Protest against radioactive shipwrecks

Il Manifesto 25 October 2009 Tonino Perna.

The Revolt of the population of Calabria http://www.ilmanifesto.it/archivi/commento/anno/2009/mese/10/articolo/1698/

ON SATURDAY THERE WILL BE A MASS PROTEST AT AMANTEA IN CALABRIA, SOUTHERN ITALY, AGAINST THE MAFIA.

Over the last few days the Quotidiano della Calabria has collected more than thirty thousand signatures in protest against the inertia of the government. The protestors want the government to clean up the seabed around Cetraro, Vibo and Capo Bruzzano, where they know that there are shipwrecks with cargoes of toxic and radioactive waste. They are also demanding that proper research be carried out to find the other shipwrecks with toxic and radioactive cargoes in their holds.

Trades Unions from Alto Tirreno, Calabria have gone to Rome to protest. Hundreds of Trades Unionists from all over Calabria will go to Amantea to take part in the mass protest. There has never been such an angry rebellion in Calabria.

Neither the seven hundred people killed by the ‘ndrangheta in 1985 and in 1992, nor the hundreds of kidnappings that have affected many local professionals, nor the tens of scandals that have involved most of the Calabrian politicians have caused such an angry reaction from the people of Calabria. Not even the Fortugno murder, which resulted in the movement of young people “now kill us all”, succeeded in involving all the people of Calabria.

Whoever transported these tens of ships with cargoes of toxic and radioactive waste, has produced an ecological disaster that looks as if the consequences for the food chain could be as bad as Cernobil. ‘Ndrangheta got involved in this and they look really bad now, but they were only the workmen for a vast criminal organisation.

The real people responsible are the multinationals, the managers of nuclear power stations, important people in Government and secret services. The network of people involved goes way beyond what we can imagine.
Powerful people from many countries, including Colombia, Mexico, Russia are involved in this.

Experts such as Umberto Santino and the attorney for the Republic of Italy, Piero Grasso, have been talking about “borghesia mafiosa” rather than mafia, camorra and ‘ndragheta.

This is the first time there has been an conflict with the mafia, who are doing everything they can to cover up, to block the investigation, stop the inquest, prevent any more shipwrecks being found. It is an unequal fight.

But this time, you can be sure that the people of Calabria will not run away and hide in the mountains.

This is not just a local problem. This is a national and international problem that must be resolved because the sea cannot be contained within national borders.

Posted by Angela Paine at 04:23 0 comments Links to this post

Nuclear New Build is not compatible with a real Renewable Energy Policy

The UK government has set aside money to subsidize nuclear new build. This money is not available for research and development into renewable energy projects, which is why we in Britain have less renewable energy than many other European countries, although we have the best renewable energy resources. The nuclear corporations also put pressure on our government to prevent them introducing proper feed-in tariffs, which would make small scale renewables much more attractive to individual home owners. Germany, which is not going to have any new nuclear power stations, has a policy of paying feed-in tariffs at four times the rate that people pay when they buy electricity. This has resulted in a huge increase in micro-generation projects. You cannot have nuclear power and a proper well-funded renewable energy programme. The two things are not compatible. Angela

Infant Leukemias near all German Nuclear Power Stations is not an Example of Bad Science

John Mclevy (letters Dec 24) alleges that the German study on infant leukemias near all German power stations is an example of bad science being used for political purposes. However he fails to back this claim with any evidence from the study itself. It is doubtful whether he has read the study.

In fact, the German study is extremely robust: it was commissioned by the German Government and carried out by a expert team of epidemiologists at the University of Mainz. These scientists actually supported nuclear power, so there was no "political purpose" as he falsely alleges. The reality is that the German study is thoroughly competent and its findings are scientifically valid, as vouchsafed by the German Government itself.

Contrary to Mclevy's view, the study is not bad science, but very good science. The problem is that its findings are, in the words of Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth" for Mclevy and his pro-nuclear bias.

Faced with this incontrovertible evidence of infant leukemias near nuclear reactors, what should we do? Should we, as the cigarette companies did for decades, seek to distort, deny, and smear the clear evidence of increased cancers, as Mclevy seems to do? Or should we seek safer healthier alternatives to generate electricity?

Mclevy states that he supports nuclear as "we need to stop burning carbon". But does he consider the huge amounts of carbon released during the nuclear fuel cycle, especially by uranium mining, uranium milling, and uranium fuel enrichment?

Renewable energy and energy efficiency measures are a better future for us, not the old-fashioned dangerous WW II technology of nuclear power.



Reg Illingworth