Nuclear power in Europe

France’s nuclear safety watchdog intends to “make an example” of the country’s first reactor project in 20 years, amid concerns that many of the skills for building nuclear power stations may have been lost.

The watchdog had ordered EDF, operator of France’s 58 nuclear power stations, to halt work three weeks ago after it discovered problems with quality controls and with the iron frame of the concrete structure being put in place by Bouygues, the French construction group. (more…)

France’s nuclear safety watchdog has ordered EDF to halt work temporarily at its flagship new generation nuclear power station after finding that the French electricity giant had failed to address deficiencies in quality controls.

The Nuclear Safety Authority, charged with inspecting France’s 59 reactors, said on Tuesday that it had detected anomalies in the reinforcement of concrete for the 1,600MW EPR reactor being built at Flamanville in northern France. (more…)

Safety investigators uncover cracks in the concrete base and substandard welds. Lack of recent experience in building nuclear plants said to have caused problem.
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PARIS (Thomson Financial) – France’s nuclear safety authority identified ‘shortcomings’ during an inspection in March of the Flamanville site where Bouygues is building a new nuclear power plant for EDF, Les Echos reported.

The authority criticised Bouygues for bad preparation of a concreting operation and asked EDF to supervise the work more closely, according to the business daily. (more…)

One of the companies competing to build new nuclear reactors in Ontario has run into trouble with regulators in France.

The French nuclear safety watchdog says there are a number of serious infractions in the Areva construction of a reactor in northern France – the same type of reactor it wants to sell to Ontario. (more…)

Nuclear reactors of the kind France wants to sell to Britain suffer from “potentially catastrophic” problems, it was claimed yesterday.

News of the structural flaws came days after President Nicolas Sarkozy used a state visit to Britain to boast about his nation’s nuclear expertise. (more…)

By Sami Torma

HELSINKI, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Finland is pressing ahead with construction of its fifth nuclear reactor but the plant has faced long delays and seems unlikely to herald a quick revival of Europe’s atomic industry.

Construction of the reactor — one of only two major atomic projects underway in largely nuclear-sceptical Western Europe — was originally scheduled to start in 2009 but construction delays and rising costs have now pushed that back to 2011. (more…)

December 04, 2007: 05:55 AM EST

PARIS, Dec. 4, 2007 (Thomson Financial) — French anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire said it has mounted a legal challenge to the construction of EDF’s Flamanville nuclear reactor and hopes to get work stopped.

EDF said the construction of the 1,650 megawatts EPR European pressurised water reactor, to be supplied by Areva, has started following ground preparation at the site.
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By Philip Bethge (Der Spiegel)

Is nuclear power on the verge of a renaissance? Its supporters argue that atomic energy is the only way to satisfy humanity’s hunger for more energy without aggravating the effects of global warming. Critics, however, regard the nuclear hype as over-simplistic optimism fueled by an industry in distress. (more…)