Are Environmentalist Stunts Obfuscating A Serious Nuclear Debate? The Greenpeace activists who crashed a Superman-styled drone into an EDF facility near Lyon, France on July 3 pulled off the latest of several stunts designed to highlight the vulnerability of France’s ageing nuclear reactors. In a country whose energy mix is built on nuclear power, the strategy is working: the Superman incident came just before a French parliamentary report called out security “failings” at some facilities. Revelations of faulty welding at the new Flamanville reactor have since added yet more fuel to the fire. France’s anti-nuclear groups have been successful in capturing media attention – and public support – but that hasn’t changed the facts on the ground for the energy sector. France is heavily reliant on nuclear energy and has been since the 1980s, after the Messmer plan (named for the French premier who introduced it) called for a transition to an economy powered exclusively by nuclear energy. France’s 58 nuclear power plants accounted for 71.6% of the country’s electricity generation last year, the highest national share of any country in the world.
Oil Price 18th Aug 2018 read more »
