Fix 'em or shut 'em French nuclear safety agency tells EDF

The French nuclear safety authority (ASN) has told the country's national electricity supplier, Électricité de France, that it must invest billions of euros in safety fixes at the country's 58 reactors or choose to close them. A report issued January 3 by ASN said that the investment was needed to ensure French reactors could withstand natural shocks similar to those that precipitated meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant site in Japan. ASN president, André Claude Lacoste, said the agency would have to suspend operations at French reactors if EDF did not meet their timeline for safety fixes. "If EDF estimates that what we are asking for is so expensive that it does no longer make it worthwhile to operate one facility, it can decide to shut that facility," he said. EDF has estimated the cost at 10 billion euros. However, the French presidential election in April 2012 could change the picture again as Socialist opposition candidate, François Holland, has pledged to shut 24 of the reactors by 2025 should he be elected.

Japan at less than 20% nuclear capacity

With the shutdown for maintenance at the Takahama nuclear reactor, Japan is now operating at under 20% of its nuclear capacity. Takahama will be shut for four months but it is up to the local authorities whether or not it is then allowed to restart. If all local authorities refuse restarts, there will be no nuclear reactors operating in Japan by April 2012. Only 10 of Japan's 58 reactors are currently running. There is growing public opposition to the continued use of nuclear energy in Japan. A group of women (pictured) recently protested with a sit-in at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo.

France's "red green" alliance advocates near 50% nuclear shutdown by 2050.

The two French opposition parties - the Socialists and the Greens - have agreed to campaign for the shutdown of 24 of France's 58 nuclear reactors by 2025 and the immediate halt of the oldest plant at Fessenheim. The Greens favor a complete halt of France’s nuclear reactors, which provide more than three quarters of the country’s power, while Socialist candidate Francois Hollande has called for the lowering of France’s dependence on atomic power to 50 percent by 2025. The announcement caused stocks of the French utility, EDF, to slide as much as 6.4 percent to 19.40 euros, the lowest since Sept. 26 making it the worst-performing stock in Europe’s Stoxx 600 Utilities Index on November16.

Inconceivable! That's what a 3rd MD reactor looks like to Exelon!

John Rowe, CEO of Exelon, told reporters on November 9 that the idea that his company would construct a third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs, MD, was "almost inconceivable." The two Calvert Cliffs reactors are owned by Constellation Energy which already withdrew from the project, leaving French partner, EDF, stranded. Exelon is about to merge with Constellation. EDF, as a foreign corporation, is prohibited by law from sole ownership of the new Calvert Cliffs reactor. EDF has been working to circumvent the law but the financial challenges were too burdensome for Constellation which opted not to move forward despite the promise of a loan guarantee from the federal government. Constellation withdrew due to financial concerns after the U.S. Energy Department asked for a fee of $880 million to compensate taxpayers for the risk they would take on a loan guarantee of about $7.6 billion, a fee Constellation said would doom the project. Read background here.

Japan joins Germany, Italy and others in preferring nuclear exit

A new poll by NHK shows that 70% of the Japanese public want to reduce or abolish nuclear power in the future. About 2,600 randomly selected adults were polled nationwide over 3 days through October 30th.
1,775 people responded. According to NHK, 24 percent of respondents said all nuclear power plants should be shut down and 42 percent said the number should be reduced. 23 percent said the existing facilities should be maintained and 2 percent said they want more nuclear plants.49 percent of respondents said they are very afraid of another nuclear accident and 37 percent are worried to a certain extent.