News

On the last day of 2021, as final preparations were being made for the New Year’s Eve firework display in central Berlin, outside the German capital another era was drawing to a close. It was the beginning of the end of Germany’s decades-long dalliance with nuclear power. On December 31, Germany shut down three of its six remaining nuclear plants. By the end of 2022, the other three will be shut as well. Two decades after an agreement to eliminate nuclear power became law, the country’s phaseout has been dramatic. In 2002, Germany relied on nuclear power for nearly 30 percent of its electricity. Within a year, that percentage will be zero. Germany isn’t the only European nation reevaluating its relationship with nuclear energy. Its neighbor Belgium currently sources nearly 40 percent of its electricity from nuclear power but has committed to closing down its seven remaining reactors by 2025. To the south, Switzerland has already shut down one of its five remaining nuclear power plants, the first stage in what will eventually be a total phaseout. Switzerland’s phaseout was decided in a 2017 referendum, when the majority of the public endorsed an energy strategy that subsidized renewables and banned new nuclear power plants. The Swiss referendum was driven by environmental concerns raised in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, when three reactors melted after a tsunami overwhelmed the power plant. That disaster, and concerns about the disposal of nuclear waste, also hastened Germany’s nuclear shutdown. Shortly afterward, then-chancellor Angela Merkel—who had previously said she didn’t agree with shutting down nuclear plants early—announced that Germany would no longer extend the operating life of existing plants.

Ars Technica 23rd Jan 2022 read more »

Hours before the window for lodging objections closes, EU environment and energy ministers meeting in France Friday differed sharply on a European Commission provision that would classify nuclear and natural gas energy as “sustainable”. The controversy pits countries led by France — where nuclear generates a world-leading 70 percent of electricity — against Germany, Austria and others in the 27-nation bloc. Debate over the Commission’s so-called “taxonomy” is not on the agenda of the informal, three-day talks in Amiens, but flared nonetheless. In late December the European Commission unveiled a classification labelling investment in nuclear gas-based energy as sustainable, in order to favour sectors that reduce the greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming.

Fin24 22nd Jan 2022 read more »

Nuclear: “The European Commission seems to be taking back with one hand what it gave with the other”. If the European executive is moving towards the classification of nuclear energy in the energies eligible for “green” financing, it refuses to grant State aid to the sector, deplore the researcher Nicolas Mazzucchi and the senator Cédric Perrin.

Le Monde 24th Jan 2022 read more »

Six young Japanese men and women are to sue the company behind the Fukushima nuclear disaster for cancers contracted as children that they claim were caused by radiation from the stricken plant. The plaintiffs were aged between six and 16 in 2011 when three reactors melted down after cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear station were knocked out by a tsunami. Tens of thousands of people were driven out of their homes and part of the area around the plant remains uninhabitable today. Despite the 18,500 deaths caused by the tsunami, there is no conclusive evidence that anyone so far has died or become seriously ill as a result of radiation from the plant. A United Nations committee of scientists concluded last year that “no adverse health effects among Fukushima residents have been documented that could be directly attributed to radiation exposure from the accident.” Now aged between 17 and 27, the plaintiffs all developed thyroid cancer, which can be caused by radioactive iodine. Children and young people are especially vulnerable to it. Unlike many cancers, it appears quickly; following the world’s worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl it was diagnosed after one year.

Times 24th Jan 2022 read more »

The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has found that a coolant solution, used to create an ice wall halting the seepage of groundwater into reactor buildings, has leaked from two storage tanks. The leakage has had no impact on the wall or environment, said Tokyo Electric Power Co Holdings Inc (Tepco). Still, it underscores the unpredictable challenges in the clean-up of the site, nearly 11 year after an earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan’s northeastern coast, causing the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.

US News 23rd Jan 2022 read more »

Olivier Giraud, director of the swimming pool project, explains why EDF needs it and the reasons that lead the electrician to La Hague, in the Manche department. Olivier Giraud, you are the director of this swimming pool project for EDF, why in La Hague? This is to meet a need for spent fuel storage capacity. A need confirmed during the public debate on the national plan for the management of radioactive materials and waste, which took place in 2019. We need both storage capacity, over a period of several decades. Why The Hague? Because this fuel that we need to store is spent MOX, which will need to be reprocessed but not necessarily in the short term. There are currently 2,500 t stored in the pools at the La Hague site and the aim is to store them in this new pool so that they can be processed and recycled on this same site later. It is a swimming pool which is in a continuity of activity with what is already done there. This therefore limits transport.

Ouest France 23rd Jan 2022 read more »

The long decline of Electricite de France SA isn’t only a political crisis for the government in Paris — it’s a growing economic threat for much of Europe. The giant nuclear operator, once a source of national pride and reliable low-cost electricity, has become a nightmare for investors and an increasingly wobbly pillar of regional energy security. Technical problems at some of its largest reactors mean EDF is set to produce the smallest amount of atomic power in three decades, slashing France’s exports to neighboring countries. It’s a one-two punch for a region that’s already reeling from record natural gas prices, and shows little sign of abating. Instead of helping EDF deal with its problems, the French government is extracting billions of dollars from the company to shield households from high energy costs.

Japan Times 24th Jan 2022 read more »