Gas crisis, a PR coup for French nuclear industry

France's vast nuclear power network has largely shielded it from the Russian gas crisis, handing the country's atomic energy sector an unexpected public relations coup.

With 80 percent of its electricity generated by nuclear power stations, the highest proportion in the world, France was able to reassure nervous households and industry after the Russia-Ukraine dispute cut off gas supplies to Europe.

The gas crisis coincided with exceptionally cold weather in France, testing its power system to the limit as households turned up their heaters to maximum.
"The French must be delighted that the country didn't bet only on gas when we see what is happening with the gas (crisis)," EDF's Chief Executive Pierre Gadonneix said on French radio last week.

France has been a staunch advocate of nuclear power since the 1970s oil crisis which led it to build up Europe's largest network of 58 reactors.
State-owned electricity giant EDF is now marketing this savoir-faire (expertise) worldwide, as demonstrated by high-profile moves into Britain and the United States over the past few months.

France hopes to lead a global renaissance of atomic power as countries seek to fight global warming -- nuclear is virtually carbon dioxide free -- and aim to boost their energy independence.

China, South Africa and Italy are the next targets for EDF, which has said it wants to finance, build and operate European-designed new-generation reactors across the globe.

STRONG SELLING POINT
"The Russian-Ukraine gas crisis is a strong new selling point for the French nuclear industry," said Jean-Marie Chevalier, head of the geopolitical energy centre at Paris Dauphine University.

"The crisis will allow the French nuclear sector to alert countries such as Germany or Italy, which are highly dependent on gas, of an energy landscape full of uncertainty," he said.

German decision makers, who are faithful energy partners with Russia, are now likely to present more independent scenarios, including a review of plans to shut nuclear reactors.

"When you see upcoming European projects, 58 percent of them are fossil fuel-based power plants, including 40 percent which are gas-fired plant projects," said Colette Lewiner, head of utilities at French consultancy firm Capgemini.
"This will only increase Europe's dependency on Russian gas," she said, adding that Europe should on the contrary be raising its share of nuclear.

MORE GAS NEEDS AT HOME
While its neighbours may be forced to study ways of cutting their dependency on Russian gas, France must prepare to increase its imports, as it builds new fossil fuel-fired power plants to better cope with demand during peak times.
But France imports just 15 percent of its gas needs from Russia, and thanks to its diverse supply sources, this low level of exposure should be maintained.
French energy demand broke new records last week as domestic heating demand soared, testing national peak supply capacity to the limit.

EDF, which last week warned power cuts might occur in remote parts of the grid, created new peakload capacity of 3,100 megawatts over the last three years and says a further 1,900 MW is needed by 2012, equivalent to two nuclear reactors.
The insufficient slack in the French power system meant last week's surge in demand required heavy imports of electricity from Germany's gas and coal-fired plant network.

"The current energy trend is for diversification and I tend to believe that France is too dependent on nuclear energy," Chevalier added.
"For peak needs, nuclear is not a solution because it's not economical to use atomic power for just a few days per year," Capgemini's Lewiner said.

(Source: Guardian)

India energised by nuclear pacts

India's atomic energy pact with France represents a major step for the fast developing country, marking the moment it finally rid itself of its status as a nuclear outcast.

A separate deal with the United States was passed by the US Senate on Wednesday, cementing India's new position in what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called "the global nuclear order."

The accord with France, signed in Paris on Tuesday, ended a ban on countries selling civilian nuclear technology and equipment to New Delhi, imposed in 1974 when India used its civilian programme to produce and test an atomic bomb.

Security analyst C. Uday Bhaskar said the pacts would remove the tag of "nuclear transgressor" and give India "a unique and exceptional status that is recognised by the world."

"India is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is not recognised as a nuclear weapon state, but New Delhi can buy reactors, fuel and technology from the international market," said Bhaskar, former head of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses.

"This places India in a class apart from Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, countries that have nuclear weapons but cannot engage in nuclear commerce," he said.

The fact that New Delhi, which also carried out nuclear tests in 1998, had managed to re-enter global nuclear commerce on its own terms represents a "significant victory for Indian diplomacy," he added.

Arundhati Ghosh, India's former envoy to the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, said the two deals would help to secure the emerging South Asian giant a seat at "the global high table."

The pacts should also allow India to boost its economic growth rate, she said.

New Delhi, which has recently been expanding economically at the rate of over eight percent, has been on the lookout for cheaper and cleaner sources of fuel to accelerate to double-digit growth.

"The deals open the way for India to increase economic growth and sustain it by providing cheap means of electricity for industry and agriculture," she said.

India is being courted by high profile groups like the Group of Eight industrialised nations and is increasingly consulted on major international issues, she noted.

"If India can maintain 10 percent growth rate like China, the world will be seeking India to be part of it and its institutions rather than us seeking be members of bodies like the UN Security Council."

On the domestic front, the pacts represent "a diplomatic feather in Prime Minister Singh's cap," said political analyst and author Rasheed Kidwai.

"It has boosted Singh's image as somebody who can take tough decisions, stand up for his convictions and set his own agenda after seen as dithering for months," Kidwai said.

He was referring to Singh winning a confidence vote in parliament in July on the issue of civilian nuclear energy cooperation with countries including the United States.

It was Washington's support that paved the way for the International Atomic Energy Agency and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group giving India the green light to engage in nuclear commerce.

Other analysts however warned that India still had some way to go.

A spate of bomb attacks and clashes between the dominant Hindu community and the minority Muslims and Christians had cast a shadow on India's image, said Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, head of the School of Convergence think-tank.

"India needs to learn the virtues of inclusive politics and religious tolerance, and to recognise that diversity is its strength rather than its weakness. Only then can it be recognised as a great power," Thakurta said.

(Source: AFP)

India, France ink nuclear deal, first after NSG waiver

India on Tuesday emerged out of a 34-year-old nuclear isolation and signed a historic agreement for civil nuclear cooperation with France. With this pact, France became the first country to enter into a formal understanding with India after the Nuclear Suppliers Group exempted India from its guidelines earlier this month.

The agreement, which was finalised in January when French President Nicholas Sarkozy visited India as chief guest for the Republic Day, was signed this afternoon by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Department of Atomic Energy head Anil Kakodkar on the Indian side.

But the agreement can be operationalised only after India signs the already concluded safeguards agreement with IAEA. Though technically India already has six reactors under safeguards for which cooperation can begin, a call on this has still not been taken and partners like France first need to agree. The best case scenario for India would be to have three agreements with US, France and Russia sealed in the next two months and then sign the safeguards agreement.

“Today we have added a new dimension to our strategic partnership... France is the first country with whom we have entered into such an agreement after lifting of international restrictions on civil nuclear cooperation with India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group. I conveyed to President Sarkozy our gratitude for France’s consistent support to our civil nuclear initiative,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

(Source: Indian Express)

India, France set to sign nuclear agreement

India and France are poised to ink a landmark civil nuclear deal similar to the one with the United States, which will be the first such agreement to be initialled by any country with New Delhi signalling an end to its 34-year-old nuclear apartheid.

Though Indian officials said that the Indo-French Nuclear Cooperation Agreement is expected to be signed soon, France gave its clear indications that it will be inked during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Paris tomorrow for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy had told PTI that the prospects of cooperation between France and India in the civil nuclear field are "very promising" considering his country's expertise, long tradition of cooperation with New Delhi and an atmosphere of trust.

India and France had initialled the Framework Agreement for Civil Nuclear Cooperation in January but could not sign it pending a waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group. Now that the NSG has given its nod, New Delhi and Paris are free to sign the agreement during Singh's visit to Paris.

The framework agreement was inked during Sarkozy's visit to India in January this year.

"We have already initialled the framework agreement in civil nuclear matters. It will certainly come up for review and possible signature during my visit," Singh told reporters yesterday when asked whether he expected the nuclear agreement to be signed during his two-day tour to Paris.

(Source: Press Trust of India)

Iran hands over nuclear reply to powers - agency

Iran's written reply to a proposal backed by six world powers aimed at defusing a row over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme has been handed over to European Union officials, Iran's Fars News Agency said on Tuesday.

An EU source in Brussels could not confirm the report.

The six world powers have offered to refrain from steps to impose more U.N. sanctions if Iran freezes expansion of its nuclear work -- an initial step in getting talks going on a broader resolution to the stand-off.

Western officials, who fear Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb despite its denials, said they had been told Tehran would give a written reply on Tuesday.

"Iran's written response to the six countries involved in the nuclear negotiations was handed to officials at the European Union by Iran's ambassador to Brussels," Fars News Agency reported, without giving any further details.

The freeze idea is aimed at getting preliminary discussions going before starting full negotiations on a package of nuclear, trade and other incentives. But those formal talks will not begin until Iran suspends uranium enrichment.

Enrichment is the part of Iran's programme that most worries the West because it can have both civilian and military uses.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, insists it is only seeking to master technology to make electricity, and has repeatedly refused to halt its atomic work.

Washington and its Western allies said on Monday that, if Iran's response was not positive, the next step would be to expand U.N. sanctions. The U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of penalties on Iran since 2006.

Russia and China, two members of the sextet, have been reluctant to impose sanctions in the past but have, in the end, voted for all three sanctions resolutions after initial drafts were watered down.

The others in the sextet are the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

(Source: Reuters India)

British Energy, EDF fail to strike takeover deal

The future of nuclear power generator British Energy was uncertain on Friday after talks for a multi-billion-dollar takeover by French power giant EDF broke down.

In Paris, the head of Electricite de France, the biggest nuclear power generator in the world, said that "financial conditions" had not yet been met for acquisition of British Energy.

A source told Dow Jones Newswires that the two companies may decide to restart talks but added that EDF did not intend increasing its offer.

The BBC reported that major shareholders in British Energy, Invesco and Prudential, were holding out for a higher price owing to the surging cost of fuels.

Meanwhile Britain's Business Secretary John Hutton told the public broadcaster that the government was "disappointed" at the failure to reach a deal.

Britain's Labour government owns more than a third of British Energy but wants to sell its stake.

"We are disappointed by the failure to reach an agreement overnight," Hutton told BBC radio. "I think it would have been a good fit."

He added: "It's up to the board now and EDF to see if there is any way that this gap can be bridged."

British Energy said in a short statement to the London Stock Exchange that "advanced discussions with a party have continued but without agreement to date," leading to a sharp drop in its share price early Friday.

Speaking at a press conference in Paris, EDF chairman and chief executive Pierre Gadonneix said that talks had ended overnight without an agreement on a takeover by the group, in which the French state is the majority shareholder.

"Following in-depth discussions, and after hearing the demands of all sides, we deem that the financial conditions allowing a major development in Britain by EDF have not currently been met," he said.

Gadonneix added that, in light of a trend towards nuclear power in several markets, EDF -- which Friday declared a 12.2-percent drop in half-year profits to 3.08 billion euros -- intended to play a leading role.

EDF, as the world's biggest nuclear power supplier and already Europe's number one electricity producer, had been widely expected to confirm that a deal had been struck to buy British Energy, which has a market value of 12 billion pounds (15.5 billion euros, 24 billion dollars).

A source close to talks with British Energy had told AFP on Thursday that the French group's directors had backed a takeover.

The bid was said to have been in the form of either a cash-only deal worth 765 pence per share or a cash option worth 700 pence a share plus shares.

The offer was aimed at the British government's 35.2 percent stake in British Energy. Under takeover rules, any bid for the government stake would trigger an offer for the rest of group.

In European stock market trading on Friday morning, British Energy's share price was showing a fall of 4.18 percent to 699 pence on London's FTSE 100, which was down 0.31 percent.

EDF dropped by 0.89 percent to 55.45 euros on the Paris CAC 40, which was 0.41 percent lower.

British Energy provides almost one fifth of Britain's electricity and owns and operates eight nuclear power stations.

Last month, British Energy said that a series of takeover proposals received from unnamed parties had undervalued the company.

The government, meanwhile, wants to see a renewal of its nuclear-power generating capacity and the assets owned by the group are seen as a springboard for any such effort.

"The future of new nuclear in the UK doesn't depend on this particular (EDF) deal," Hutton added during his interview with the BBC.

"I think we are absolutely committed to new nuclear power and if this deal is not able to go through for whatever reason, we will be looking at plans to make sure we can continue with our foot on the floor because Britain needs these new nuclear power stations."

Britain's governing Labour Party called nuclear power an "unattractive" option as late as 2003, but has changed its mind as energy costs soar, initiatives against climate change intensify and North Sea oil and gas stocks dwindle.

It also follows an increasing global trend towards atomic power, which currently provides about 16 percent of the world's electricity.

(Source: AFP)

France orders tests on all nuclear power stations after leak

Fears over France's nuclear reactors have been raised as the government orders ground water tests at its 58 power stations, after a uranium leak at one polluted local water supplies.

The safety lapse at a plant in Provence run by French nuclear giant Areva has raised questions over President Nicolas Sarkozy's drive to roll out reactors around the world – in Britain but also in states with less stringent safety norms.

"I don't want people to feel that we are hiding anything from them," said ecology minister Jean-Louis Borloo as he announced the blanket tests.

Residents in Bollène in the Vaucluse, southern France – a top tourist area – have been told not to drink water or eat fish from nearby rivers, after 74kg of liquid uranium was spilled on July 7 at the Tricastin nuclear plant.

Swimming and water sports were also banned along with irrigating crops with the contaminated water, which reached two rivers.

French authorities last week ordered the closure of a nuclear treatment facility at the plant, which also has a nuclear reactor, after liquid was spilled during its transfer from one container to another.

The site is run by Socatri, a subsidiary of Areva, whose president, Anne Lauvergeon, is due to visit.

Areva aims to dominate the design and construction of at least eight new power stations which are to be fast-tracked in England over the next decade.

According to Gordon Brown, they are essential to reduce Britain's dependency on fossil fuels, but environmentalists have already raised safety fears, saying the Areva reactor design is 'untried and untested'.

Ben Ayliffe, head of nuclear campaigns at Greenpeace, said: "Such unpredictable and nasty side effects are the risks you take with nuclear.

"We believe the leak in France resulted from human error.

"Liquid uranium was accidentally poured onto the ground. We're not talking about dishwater here. This is a dangerous radioactive material.

"The risk of accidents like this in the UK should be enough to make reasonable people baulk at the thought of having more nuclear power stations here."

Although ranked as only a level-one incident on a scale from zero to seven, Mr Borloo said he wanted government nuclear safety inspectors to look into the environmental conditions at all sites, in particular the state of the surrounding ground water.

"I'm told that everything is under control, but I want to be sure," Mr Borloo told Le Parisien newspaper.

French environmental group Sortir du nucléaire welcomed the move, but said that tests should be carried out by an independent body not linked to the industry or the French state – its main shareholder.

France has the world's second largest network of nuclear reactors after the United States and they generate more than 80 per cent of its electricity.

While the spill at Tricastin did not affect the reactor, Mr Borloo stressed that "there is no room for negligence" in nuclear energy.

France's IRSN nuclear safety institute said it had located four areas with abnormally high levels of uranium in the ground water and that this could not have been caused by the Tricastin leak alone.

This has led to suggestions that military nuclear waste buried nearby in an underground storage site from 1964 to 1976 may be to blame.

In 1998, a study by French nuclear body Cogema estimated that up to 900kg of uranium had leaked into underground water supplies from the site, and that another 1,700 kilogrammes were still buried there.

However, IRSN said the pollution "incident" had "nothing to do with this mound of waste" – located roughly a mile further south.

It has been declared all vegetables and crops irrigated just after the leak fit for consumption, but residents around Bollène, where the power station is located, said they feared for their health.

"We've been drinking water from this water table for 20 years," said Sylvie Eymard, who cultivates herbs and vegetables on a farm within sight of Tricastin's cooling towers. Most of her plants have died due to the water restrictions.

"We've done chemical tests before, but never thought of a radiological risk.

"I can't help thinking about the possible consequences of this pollution on my children", she told Le Parisien.

The municipality is supplying tanks of drinking water and local stores have sold out on mineral water, while some residents have stocked up on iodine pills – usually taken as protection against airborne radioactive particles.

"The local population is worried and no longer believes official figures", said André-Yves Becq, the deputy mayor. He said Socatri inspectors "suspiciously" told one family that dangerously high levels of contamination in its water supply were due to a "dirty measurement instrument".

France is fiercely proud of its nuclear prowess thanks to mainly state-owned energy giants Areva, Electricité de France and newly merged GDF Suez. The country has already embarked on the construction of a new generation of higher-yield EPR reactors.

In April, Mr Sarkozy hailed French nuclear technology as "one of the safest in the world' while on a trip to Tunisia – the latest in his nuclear sales tour of mainly Muslim states including Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, but also China.

"Without energy, you will not know growth. Without growth, you will not have development. You will have poverty, under-development and unemployment, and thus terrorism. Everything is linked", he claimed.

(Source: Telegraph.co.uk)

France to build second Areva EPR nuclear power plant - Sarkozy

President Nicolas Sarkozy, confirming a report in Les Echos, said France will build a second EPR European pressurised water nuclear power reactor.

Sarkozy, who made the announcement on a visit to ArcelorMittal's factory at Le Creusot, gave no indication of where the plant will be built, not when it will start output.

The first of Areva's 1,600 megawatt third-generation reactors to be ordered in France is under construction for EDF at Flamanville.

The president, Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon and ArcelorMittal CFO Aditya Mittal signed an agreement for a 70 million euro investment aimed at increasing production at the Industeel plant, the nuclear energy company said.

The investment, which will be staggered between 2008 and 2010, will increase ingot production capacity significantly from 35,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes per year, it said.

Dieter Furniere of Dexia said it is unclear who will be picked as the operator of the reactor, since EDF does not see the necessity to construct new nuclear capacity before 2020.

In a note to clients, the Dexia analyst mentioned Suez and Poweo as among companies which might be interested in the additional nuclear capacity.

The first commercial EPR plant on which construction began, at Olkiluoto in Finland, is two years behind schedule.

In November, Areva received an order to supply EPRs to China in a contract worth 8 billion euros including fuel, the biggest contract in civilian nuclear engineering.

France has 58 nuclear reactors of earlier models and produces 80 percent of the country's electricity from them.

(Source: Forbes)

French power myths

France may export massive amounts of nuclear power, but that success doesn't come without its difficulties

In his rebuttal to Lawrence Solomon's May 13 column on France's nuclear power system, French ambassador Daniel Jouanneau made a number of highly misleading claims (letter, May 16). These assertions are especially relevant in light of France's recent entry into Ontario's potential multi-billion market, in which Franco-German Areva NP, the world's largest nuclear vendor, is competing against Japanese-owned Westinghouse Electric Co. and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.

Working in France on nuclear issues for 25 years, four of them as a direct advisor to the Environment Minister's Office, I am familiar with the French nuclear establishment. The Ontario government should thoroughly scrutinize both the French nuclear program in general and, in particular, the ongoing difficulties of Areva NP in meeting quality-control standards, deadlines and budget terms at its current building sites in Finland and France.

The ambassador's general claims conveniently confuse electricity and energy. While nuclear energy provides 78% of France's electricity, this corresponds to only 18% of the total energy that consumers use. In other words, France's nuclear program does not come close to "ensuring its energy independence." Oil meets almost half, and fossil fuels over 70%, of France's final energy needs, as is the case in many other countries. Moreover, all of France's uranium is imported.

"Since 1970, 50% of France's CO2 emissions have been avoided thanks to nuclear energy." That statement by the French ambassador is flatly wrong. France's carbon dioxide emissions in 2006 were some 13% lower than in 1970, but even higher than by the middle of the 1980s.

"Efficiently meeting the power needs of its population"? Let's rather say, the government-owned electricity utility -- Electricite de France (EDF) -- deploys massive efforts to encourage ever more electricity use, in particular in the form of highly inefficient space heat. Picture this: To generate electricity, you heat water and lose between half (a modern gas plant) and two-thirds (a nuclear plant) of the energy in the transformation process, plus an additional 7% to 10% in the grid before the electricity heats air in the home. A modern natural gas or oil-based central heating system loses less than 10% of the energy in the form of waste heat.

"Environmentally responsible"? The Hague plutonium factories emit thousands of times the amount of radioactivity of a French nuclear power plant and cause a collective dose to the world population comparable with those that resulted from the major accidents in 1957 at Kyshtym in Russia or Windscale in the U. K.

France's nuclear energy policy is anything but "innovative." The best example is the nuclear establishment's total inability to adapt to the failure of the plutonium-fuelled fast-breeder program. Having squandered tens of billions of dollars on the plutonium economy, it now sits on two giant plutonium factories at The Hague, despite having lost nearly all of its foreign commercial reprocessing clients. Yet Areva continues to boast that one gram of plutonium is "equivalent" to one ton of oil. It is amazing that such an apparently valuable resource gets a zero value in the accounts of EDF, owner of a stunning 50-ton plutonium stockpile -- at US$100 per barrel of oil, the plutonium should be worth more than US$30-billion! Even more amazing, the Dutch pay EDF to rid them of their plutonium separated at The Hague. Usually, one sells a valuable resource.

(read more)
(Source: National Post)

Protests as French PM visits Japan nuclear plant

Hundreds of Japanese anti-nuclear activists protested Saturday as French Prime Minister Francois Fillon toured a new atomic facility here built in partnership between the two nations.

The plant in the northern region of Aomori is expected to begin operations next month, but critics charge that it poses an environmental safety risk and could also be vulnerable to an earthquake.

Undaunted, Fillon said Paris and Tokyo, which are major nuclear supporters, should seek to vaunt the benefits of sharing that technology with developing nations too.

"It is important France and Japan are the spokesnations of the reasonable use of nuclear on a global scale," he told reporters.

He said refusing emerging economies access to civil nuclear rights would be "a political mistake."

"Step by step, by respecting all the security rules, we would like to bring developing nations toward mastery of these technologies," he added. "It is a very important political trend."

Fillon said he hoped Paris and Tokyo would be able to press for a "common action in favour of civilian nuclear energy" at a July summit of the G8 group of the world's leading industrialised nations, which Japan is hosting.

Some 700 protesters rallied in Aomori, the main town in the prefecture of the same name and near Rokkasho, where the facility was built by Japan Nuclear Fuel (JNFL) and France's nuclear giant Areva.

The nuclear reprocessing plant is "the biggest and most dangerous obstacle to directing Japan towards a safe and clean energy future," the environmental group Greenpeace said in a statement.

"Areva is aggressively promoting nuclear power expansion despite the risks, poor value for money and ineffectiveness in combating problems such as climate change," it added.

Protesters also worried about a possibly active quake faultline.

A major quake could trigger "an enormous amount of radiation leakage (that) will affect not only local residents here, but also the global environment," said Koji Asaishi, a lawyer involved in four lawsuits focused on the possible existence of an active faultline.

A map published by Japan's Active Fault Research Center does not specify a faultline in Rokkasho, but shows at least seven in Aomori Prefecture.

(read more)

(Source: AFP)

France and the UK agree to reinforce cooperation

France and the UK have agreed to greater cooperation on a range of issues, including nuclear power regulation, preventing nuclear terrorism and combating climate change.

UK prime minister Gordon Brown and French president Nicolas Sarkozy

During a visit to the UK by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, a joint summit declaration was issued by the British and French governments detailing areas for which greater cooperation had been agreed.

In the field of nuclear energy, the declaration called for improving the "efficiency and effectiveness of nuclear development projects, including in safety and pre-licensing, through our nuclear regulators working closely together to share information on nuclear safety, security and waste management." It suggested that this "action could be extended to other interested European partners (and which could include as appropriate other items of common interests)." In addition, the declaration said that France and the UK "will explore opportunities to increase the interchange of regulatory staff between the two countries."

The two countries said they would cooperate to combat the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons. The statement said: "We will also work together towards the establishment of an IAEA-led system of nuclear fuel assurance to reduce the proliferation risks."

(reade more)
(Source: World Nuclear News)

French nuclear sector risks serious lack of staff

France, the world's second largest producer of atomic energy, must act fast to avoid a shortage of skilled staff to run its reactors and win a role at the heart of a global nuclear revival.

An ageing workforce, a lack of courses and low enthusiasm among young engineers, for a field that is often seen as secretive or unsafe, all threaten France's ambitions for nuclear power.

"The ageing workforce issue is keeping countless CEOs awake at night," consultancy firm Capgemini said in a report titled "Preparing for the nuclear power renaissance".

Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are retiring. This is being felt acutely in the energy and utilities sector.

"The impact is likely to be more pronounced for nuclear power, because of special training, experience and licensing criteria," the Capgemini report said.

The number of schools that train nuclear engineers and plant operators has halved in the last 25 years, it said.

France, with 58 nuclear reactors, is counting on its expertise to win lucrative contracts if, as it hopes, many countries choose atomic power to increase their energy security and combat global warming.

It also needs to replace retiring staff at home.

"French utility EDF is in a state of alert, like many other nuclear operators, as plants date back from the 1970s or 1980s," said Laurent Turpin, head of the France's National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology (INSTN).

Turpin estimated EDF needs to hire 10,000 new employees in the next 10 years, with half of them specialised in nuclear.

"This means 500 new engineers per year, including 20 percent for their international projects," he said, adding that only 350 nuclear engineers per year were currently graduating.

In the next three years, France must train around 1,000 nuclear engineers annually to make up for the decline, he said.
(read more)
(Source: Reuters)

Nuclear news 28/01/2008

Timing of India civil nuclear deal unclear - Areva head
Reuters

The head of French nuclear firm Areva said in a newspaper interview that French civil nuclear cooperation with India hinged on an international deal whose finalisation was still unclear.
"Everything depends on authorising civil nuclear cooperation with India and on that issue the timing is political. We are waiting on the starting line, this unlocking could take place this smmer as it could take place in 2010," CEO Anne Lauvergeon told French daily Les Echos.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited India last week to cement ties with that country, trying to boost civil nuclear cooperation and defence deals.

Russia Completes Nuclear Fuel Deliveries to Iran
VOA News

Russia says it has made its eighth and last fuel delivery for Iran's nuclear power plant at Bushehr.
Since the first delivery last month, Russia has sent a total of 82 tons of nuclear fuel to the Gulf port plant.
Iran says it hopes to have the power plant operating at 50 percent capacity by the middle of the year. But Russia says it doubts if the facility can be started up before the end of 2008.

'Serious consequences' if UN adopts sanctions: Iran
Africasia

Iran warned on Monday of "serious consequences" if the UN Security Council adopts fresh sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear work.
"If a resolution is passed... it will have serious and logical consequences and we will announce them later," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a press conference.
His comments came as the Security Council was due on Monday to review a proposed third set of sanctions over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, while Russia confirmed the final delivery of fuel for Iran's first nuclear power plant.

Iranian lawmaker threatens to downgrade economic ties with France over nuclear dispute
ChinaView

A senior Iranian lawmaker on Monday threatened to downgrade Iran's economic ties with France over the dispute of Tehran's nuclear program, local ISNA news agency reported.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy commission, criticized French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his "pointless, hard-line and unfriendly" policies against Iran, especially in the Iranian nuclear issue.
"France will be excluded from Iran's automobile industry incase Sarkozy continues his hostile policies," Boroujerdi was quoted as saying.

Nuclear News 4-01-2008

China's first 3G nuclear plant to begin construction in March - report
Forbes
China's Sanmen power plant, the country's first third-generation nuclear plant, is due to begin construction in March, the China Daily said, citing State Nuclear Power Technology Co (SNPTC).
The plant in eastern Zhejiang Province is expected to be in operation by August 2013.

UK seen giving green light to new nuclear plants
Reuters
Britain is expected to give the go-ahead to a new generation of nuclear power stations next week, sparking a frenzy of deal-making by nuclear firms as well as a fresh challenge from environmental campaigners.
"I don't think the government has any other option," said analyst David Cunningham at Arbuthnot Securities. "It's a necessary evil."

Scientists criticise nuclear plans
Politics.co.uk
The government's attempts to reach consensus over plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations have once again provoked controversy. A group of prominent academics and scientists has criticised the government's consultation on energy supply, warning it failed to address crucial questions such as the risk from radiation, safe disposal of nuclear waste and the increased possibility of a terror attack.

Nuclear power: a gift or a curse?
ArabianBusiness.com
Recently, visiting Egypt, Sarkozy offered the country a helping hand to develop civilian nuclear technology. "Egypt has considerable energy needs," he proclaimed, and so do many other countries in the region threatened by their rapidly depleting oil stocks.The new year will only see the continuation of Sarkozy's mission as he lands in the GCC equipped with civil nuclear power as a diplomatic tool to attract Gulf investors in French nuclear energy services.
(...)
With France generating almost 80% of its electricity from nuclear power, and state-owned Areva currently the world's largest maker of nuclear reactors, it is only natural for Sarkozy to play these resources to his advantage. More than this, one is also tempted to question the underlying price of such deals.

Nuclear news 26/11/2007

China, France sign 8b-euro nuclear energy deal

CHINADaily
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG) and Areva of France signed an eight-billion-euro (US$11.86 billion) civil nuclear energy cooperation deal on Monday, according to which the French company will help build two reactors in Taishan City in the southern Guangdong Province.

NKorea to come clean on nuclear programmes: report

AFP

North Korea will come clean on all its nuclear programmes, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said Monday, as experts from five nations prepared to check progress on disabling its plutonium-producing atomic plants.
The report came as the US embassy said a State Department official had been stationed in the North Korean capital to assist the US-supervised drive to disable the plants by year-end.

Nuclear power expansion is a myth?

The Times of India

An audit of the nuclear power industry has revealed that the rumours of the so called nuclear power renaissance might just be an exaggeration. The report, led by Mycle Schneider and accredited by The Greens, a European parliamentary group, indicated that a number of ageing reactors are due to close before 2030, and that 338 new ones would have to be built just to replace them.
Chomsky critical of Indo-US nuclear treaty

Daily Times, Pakistan

Noted intellectual Noam Chomsky has said that the Bush administration is trying very hard to push through an agreement that not only authorises India’s illegal acquisition of nuclear weapons, but also assists it.In an interview given to political website Information Clearing House, Chomsky said, “That’s what the US-Indo Nuclear Pact is about. And, furthermore, there happens to be an obligation of the states in the Security Council and elsewhere to move towards establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the region. Now that would include Iran and Israel and any US forces deployed there.”
Nuke to the Future

Santa Fe Reporter

The portable nuclear reactor is the size of a hot tub. It's shaped like a sake cup, filled with a uranium hydride core and surrounded by a hydrogen
Invented by scientist Otis Peterson, Hyperion's patent for a hydride reactor is still pending. atmosphere. Encase it in concrete, truck it to a site, bury it underground, hook it up to a steam turbine and, voila, one would generate enough electricity to power a 25,000-home community for at least five years.