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New Energy Policy Needed as Nuclear Giants Take a Hit
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/new_energy_policy_needed_as_nuclear_giants_take_a_hit_20150529
New Energy Policy Needed as Nuclear Giants Take a Hit
Posted on May 29, 2015
By Paul Brown, Climate News Network
LONDON—The European nuclear industry, led by France, seems to be in terminal decline as a result of the cancellation of a new Finnish reactor, technical faults in stations already under construction, and severe financial problems.
<snip>
The Finnish government, once the most enthusiastic nuclear cheerleader in Europe, has lost patience with Areva, and the Finnish electricity company TVO has scrapped plans to build a second EPR in Finland.
This is because the first one, under construction at Olkiluoto since 2005, and which was supposed to be finished by 2009, is not expected to be producing electricity until 2018 – and even that may yet prove optimistic. It was intended to be the first of a “worldwide fleet”.
The second EPR under construction, at Flamanville in France, is also seriously delayed, and possibly in even deeper trouble because of concerns about the quality of steel in the pressure vessel.
<snip>
This has also raised queries over the French company’s biggest potential export market, China. Two EPRs are being built in China, but checks are being made there too because these reactors may also have excess carbon in the steel. The suspect parts were made in France in the same forge as the Flamanville pressure vessel.
<snip>
... the chances of Britain getting any new nuclear power stations before 2030 are close to zero.
Currently, the UK is closing coal-fired stations to comply with European Union directives to combat climate change, but it has not developed renewables as fast as Germany and other European neighbours—claiming that new nuclear build would fill the gap.
It now looks as though the government will urgently need to rethink its energy policy.
New Energy Policy Needed as Nuclear Giants Take a Hit
Posted on May 29, 2015
By Paul Brown, Climate News Network
LONDON—The European nuclear industry, led by France, seems to be in terminal decline as a result of the cancellation of a new Finnish reactor, technical faults in stations already under construction, and severe financial problems.
<snip>
The Finnish government, once the most enthusiastic nuclear cheerleader in Europe, has lost patience with Areva, and the Finnish electricity company TVO has scrapped plans to build a second EPR in Finland.
This is because the first one, under construction at Olkiluoto since 2005, and which was supposed to be finished by 2009, is not expected to be producing electricity until 2018 – and even that may yet prove optimistic. It was intended to be the first of a “worldwide fleet”.
The second EPR under construction, at Flamanville in France, is also seriously delayed, and possibly in even deeper trouble because of concerns about the quality of steel in the pressure vessel.
<snip>
This has also raised queries over the French company’s biggest potential export market, China. Two EPRs are being built in China, but checks are being made there too because these reactors may also have excess carbon in the steel. The suspect parts were made in France in the same forge as the Flamanville pressure vessel.
<snip>
... the chances of Britain getting any new nuclear power stations before 2030 are close to zero.
Currently, the UK is closing coal-fired stations to comply with European Union directives to combat climate change, but it has not developed renewables as fast as Germany and other European neighbours—claiming that new nuclear build would fill the gap.
It now looks as though the government will urgently need to rethink its energy policy.