Nuclear power plants in the viewfinder neighboring countries – Challenges.fr

The state of French nuclear power plants increasingly concerned neighboring countries. And they do more in hiding. Latest event: Friday, March 4 publication of a damning investigation by the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and local TV WDR the Fessenheim nuclear power plant. S ocated near the German border, a few kilometers from Freiburg, Fessenheim has suffered in April 2014 a very disturbing technical accident. In any case, much more worrying that do not want to tell the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) and EDF in France. “The event was presented as harmless but according to the survey of SZ WDR and it could have been one of the most dramatic nuclear accidents in Western Europe, warns the German press.

9 April 2014, during a filling operation of a refrigeration circuit, the clogging of a discharge pipe leading to the overflow pipe and the water supply in spaces situated in the part non-nuclear installation. the water was spread on the floor and streamed on the lower floors, which damaged the electrical cabinets commander channel a RPR system, ASN reported in a statement. D ‘ after the Authority, the leak was quickly stopped and the reactor shut down as required by the procedure. the incident was even rated 1 7 on the international nuclear Event scale Ines.

Border countries Action

But the German newspaper SZ has got hold of a damning document for specialists. This is a letter sent by ASN to the central and explains that for three minutes, the temperature inside the reactor was out of control. “The team of manage virtually blind the reactor at the time,” says Manfred Martins, an expert on reactor safety. In an attempt to restore the situation, an exceptional procedure will then be in place: the addition of boron in the heart of the reactor. The same chemical used in the incident at the Fukushima plant in Japan to cool the reactors. In addition, for specialists, that water could enter the electrical cabinets is quite worrying and reveals serious problems.

Following these revelations, the leader of the Greens in Germany, Simone Peter, called a “time bomb” the Fessenheim, the oldest of the French fleet, and denounced “a serious threat to the population in Germany.” He also requested the holding of a European summit on nuclear security. And on Friday, the German Ministry of the Environment found that the plant, “too old”, “should be closed as soon as possible.”

Concerns also Cattenom Bugey and

the survey comes amid a report commissioned by the Greens in the German Parliament also calls into question the safety of the Cattenom plant in Moselle. According to the report, several standards are not at the level of those imposed internationally especially in case of flood, earthquake or if a plane would come crashing down on the plant. The report concludes that if the plant was located in Germany, it would have been closed. Following this report, Luxembourg, also nearby, has applied to the European Commission to give its opinion on the matter.

Monday, March 7, it was the turn of the Canton of Geneva to announce the filing of a complaint against X “for deliberately endangering the lives of others and water pollution” about the central Bugey, located in the department of Ain, about thirty kilometers from Lyon, and he has long called for the closure. This plant operates since 1970 and has one reactor being dismantled, three in operation and at standstill since 27 August 2015. EDF has responded to this complaint by explaining that “major modernization program” was being set up “to constantly improve its level of safety.

Action at European level

for these worries are added those made by ASN on other french nuclear sites as the plant Areva reprocessing of nuclear waste from la Hague (Manche) or anomalies detected on the tank of the EPR under construction at Flamanville (Manche) and for which new tests should be performed in a complicated economic context for the two main players in the french EDF and Areva atom. Although without its report on state of safety and radiation protection in France in April 2015, ASN reported a balance “overall pretty good” but stressed “the necessary upgrade” of the safety of French nuclear facilities.

Asked by France Info on the damning report on Cattenom, MEP Michèle Rivasi announced that neighboring countries share of France were “ under discussion. ” “One possible action so that the Germans had the support of Luxembourg,” she said, adding that “this report has sensitized the Luxembourgers, who insist that France stops its power plants.”

Last week, Ségolène Royal announced it was ready to extend by 10 years the life of nuclear power plants in France, provoking the ire of environmentalists. And those of its European neighbors.