French nuclear industry under pressure following Japanese disaster

France has 58 nuclear reactors working in 19 plants spread around the country. Nuclear energy is responsible for more than three quarters of the electricity that it produces. Although surveys suggest that the public, in general, is not opposed to nuclear power, a vociferous range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other pressure groups have been lobbying against nuclear energy for a long time. Some have claimed that the level of risk management practices in the plants cannot be independently verified. The voices opposed to nuclear energy have gained in confidence over the past few weeks, following the problems faced by the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. But, the authorities have attempted to reassure the French population about the country's nuclear network. Prime minister François Fillon has ordered an audit of safety conditions in the country’s nuclear installations, and a number of stress security tests will be performed as requested by European authorities. For his part, president Nicolas Sarkozy, who has even travelled to Japan, has stressed the commitment of France to carry on developing its nuclear energy capabilities.hideAutorité de Sûreté Nucléaire, ASN, France's nuclear safety supervisors, has released statements trying to ensure that lessons from Japan will be learned. The body has stressed that an important consideration is how the combination of a tsunami and an earthquake created extra difficulties to reaction efforts in Japan. ASN has delivered to parliament a report on the safety of the country's nuclear plants, where it says that more than 1100 minor incidents were recorded during 2010. The three most serious occurrences were classified as level 2 incidents. These involved the handling of a radioactive object by a worker, the perforation of a security glove and the swapping of places of cobalt sources. In general, according to the agency, the level of security in the country's nuclear plants was ‘very satisfactory’ last year. Answering to questions by members of parliament, the head of ASN, André-Claude Lacoste, raised the possibility of adopting a ‘moratorium’ for the construction of a new nuclear reactor in the Flamanville plant, which is located close to the sea in the north of the country. The reactor, which has been budgeted at €5bn, and has been projected to start working by 2014, is being built by French firm Areva. The firm has been keen to stress the differences between its reactors and those of Fukushima, which were provided by America's General Electric. Mr Lacoste said that the possible interruption of works in Flamanville is the kind of decision that ASN may take in the next few months as the body digests the lessons of Fukushima. He later tried to tone down his declarations, stating that he meant that all nuclear plants will be subject to audits, including the reactor under construction at Flamanville. He also stated that it is not possible to eliminate all the risks at a nuclear installation. “Nobody can guarantee that there will never be a nuclear accident in France,” he told parliament. Some of the nuclear reactors that are active in France have been producing energy for several decades. The oldest, in Fessenheim, has been active since 1977. Analysts have pointed out that new security requirements implemented as a reaction to Fukushima, even though France does not have a significant risk of earthquakes, could significantly boost the costs of revamping the nuclear network. In 2009, EDF, the firm that manages the nuclear power system, obtained for the first time an authorisation from ASN to extend the life of a nuclear reactor, at the Tricastin plant, for a further 10 years. NGOs have criticised the government for not submitting the matter to a public debate, and similar decisions could become harder to make after Fukushima.

French nuclear industry under pressure following Japanese disaster

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