The EPR nuclear reactor – France’s costly nuclear crisis
Liberation 30th May 2018 [Machine Translation] “The impasse”, how the EPR sank French nuclear.
France 5 broadcasts this Wednesday night “Nuclear, the French impasse”, a documentary against the declining reign of the atom. This film investigates EDF’s crazy gamble: risking its survival on the EPR, a reactor that accumulates trouble.
Will the EPR be the Titanic of French nuclear power? This is the shocking question posed by a film investigated by director Patrick Benquet broadcast tonight on France 5 which points to the “impasse”
in which the “most nuclearized country in the world” has locked up by equipping itself with 58 reactors. the 70s-80s. A fleet of 19 aging plants, which still produces 75% of French electricity, and which EDF wants to keep at all costs by launching a new generation of pressurized water reactor:
the EPR, “the most powerful never built, able to supply electricity to a metropolis like Paris. It must have been the deadly weapon of the nuclear lobby to defend the reign of the atom undermined by the Fukushima disaster and the rise of green energies.
EDF dreamed of exporting it all over the world by selling this “new nuclear” as the best lever against global warming. But things did not go at all as planned. And today EDF is going through a crisis that threatens the very existence of the “public service preferred by the French,” says the documentary.
There are these hidden costs of the atom, put under the carpet for decades, which rise to the surface: the enormous costs of reprocessing radioactive waste, is added the bill of the “great refit”: these works of Hercules designed to extend the lifespan of aging plants from 40 to 50 years. ”
EDF promised cheap electricity, but the real cost of nuclear energy today is in the tens and tens of billions. And ultimately it is the taxpayer who will pay, announces the implacable voice off. Yet, EDF, the nuclear state in the state, will launch the EPR at all costs. By assigning a strategic mission: take over
the old reactors that will gradually retire by 2035.
http://www.liberation.fr/france/2018/05/30/l-impasse-comment-l-epr-a-coule-le-nucleaire-francais_1655363
International Renewable Energy Agency reports on companies across 75 nations sourcing renewable energy
Edie 29th May 2018,A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found
that corporates have actively sourced renewable energy equivalent to the overall demand of France, but renewables demand could soar if companies turned voluntary agreements into active goals.
The new IRENA report, published at last week’s Clean Energy Ministerial meeting in Copenhagen,
found that more than 2,400 companies across 75 nations sourced 465TWh of renewable energy in 2017. The report found that more than half of the companies studied are voluntarily procuring and investing in onsite generation or purchasing agreements to power their operations with renewable electricity.
Of the companies listed in the study, more than 200 are sourcing 50% or more of their energy from renewables. According to IRENA, 100% of active corporate sourcing of renewable electricity is “already feasible”, but the report found that just 17% of the companies listed had a renewable electricity target in place and three-quarters of these targets are set to expire before 2020.
Margaret Atwood: women will bear brunt of dystopian climate future
Booker prize-winning author predicts climate reality will not be far from scenarios imagined in her post-apocalyptic fiction, Guardian, Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent, 31 May 2018
May 31 Energy News
Opinion:
¶ “Home Battery Storage In Australia: Are We There Yet?” • There is a perfect storm of factors that make home battery storage look attractive in Australia, at least on paper. So, why aren’t Australians rushing to install battery storage? There’s no question that it is still mainly a matter of capital outlays and financial viability. [CleanTechnica]
Are we there yet?
Science and Technology:
¶ The Potsdam Institute For Climate Impact Research, which is commonly known as PIK, has published new research in the journal Nature Climate Change suggesting that the impact of local climate change related weather events, such as flooding along China’s rivers, could create ripple effects that disrupt economies around the world. [CleanTechnica]
¶ The energy efficiency of vertical farms could soon be boosted by as much as 20%. A new system developed by a student from Brunel University London. vFarm, by…
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1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 