Nuclear power in Europe

PARIS (Reuters) - Tests on water tables under French nuclear sites, after a major uranium leak in the south earlier this year, showed there were no significant environmental or health dangers, a government committee said on Friday.

Plant operator Areva said in July that 30 cubic meters of liquid containing non-enriched uranium was accidentally poured onto the ground and into a river at the Tricastin nuclear site in southeastern France. (more…)

PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Unplanned works at the 900-megawatt (MW) nuclear reactor 2 at the troubled Tricastin plant in southeast France will take another few weeks, EDF said on Monday.

An incident occurred at the reactor 2 on Sept. 8 during the refuelling of the reactor, when fuel assemblies got stuck in the pressure vessel. (more…)

PARIS, Sept 26 (Reuters) - EDF said on Friday it had restarted its nuclear reactor 4 at the Tricastin plant on Sept. 25 after a 10-week long outage for refuelling and maintenance.

The reactor 2, which stopped on Aug. 30 due to an incident, was still offline.

PARIS, Sept 8 (Reuters) - A security incident has occurred at a French nuclear site already under scrutiny because of a series of safety scares over the summer, France’s ASN nuclear safety authority said on Monday.

ASN said two fuel units became snagged in a reactor at Tricastin in southern France on Monday morning when site workers were attempting to remove them during maintenance work. (more…)

PARIS, Sept 4 (Reuters) - EDF said on Thursday it had stopped its 900-megawatts nuclear reactor 2 at its Tricastin plant in southeast France for refuelling on Aug. 30.

The reactor 4 at the 3,600-MW plant was halted on July 12 for maintenance.

PARIS: French nuclear engineering giant Areva said Wednesday it will invest €20 million (US$29.2 million) to improve health and environmental monitoring at a reactor complex that has been the site of a series of recent safety incidents.

The investment will also be used to find a new storage place for nuclear waste held at a site near the Tricastin complex that Areva acquired from France’s Atomic Energy Commission in 2006, Areva said. (more…)

PARIS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Radioactive gas emissions from a nuclear plant in southeast France were higher than normal in June and July but there was no threat to public safety, nuclear authorities said on Wednesday.

The gas emissions occurred at a waste reprocessing installation at the Tricastin nuclear site in southeastern France, where a separate uranium leak was reported last month. (more…)

PARIS (Reuters) - Greenpeace France filed two complaints against nuclear power company Areva over an uranium leak this month that triggered public outrage, as well as older leaks that were later found on the same site.

On July 7, Areva accidentally poured around 18 cubic meters of liquid containing uranium, which was not enriched, onto the ground and into the river at the Tricastin nuclear site, prompting local authorities to launch an official enquiry. (more…)

PARIS, July 29 (Reuters) - More than 120 workers evacuated a nuclear power plant in southern France on Tuesday after an alarm was set off, the nuclear safety authority said.

Plant owner EDF said the alarm was triggered accidentally but the safety authority ASN said it would await an independent examination before making any conclusions. (more…)

Sylvie Eymard’s Provence farmhouse kitchen should be the picture of French rural calm. But the stockpiles of bottled water, disinfectant rinse and disposable paper plates hint at something strange.

For the past two weeks, Eymard, 41, and her children, 13 and seven, have had a phobia of taps. To wash up, they go out to the yard and fill a bowl from a specially delivered plastic tank of purified water on a fork-lift tractor. They carry the water up to the bathroom to wash. Even the dog drinks bottled water, and it is left out for the birds. (more…)