More woes for EDF

While its nuclear projects go south in France and the U.S., EDF is also under assault in the U.K. A new movement - Boycott EDF - is underway. Boycott EDF is a campaign against nuclear power, and targeted at the main perpetrator of nuclear new build in Britain. In addition to blockades, Boycott EDF asks British electricity customers to switch to another company. At left is a picture of the EDF Hinkley Point blockade by protesters opposed to the EDF plans to build a new reactor at the site.

"Na Na Hey Hey" to Constellation's French reactor plans in Maryland

Anti-nuclear activists can be forgiven for launching into a chorus of "na na hey hey" today as another new U.S. reactor project bites the dust. The latest Nuclear Retreat comes from Constellation Energy which has ditched plans for a third reactor in Maryland at the Calvert Cliffs site. Constellation was looking at a $880 million price tag even with a federal loan guarantee from the Obama administration. Constellation's withdrawal is another blow for its French partner, EDF, already struggling with its reactor project on the French Normandy coast which is over-budget, behind schedule and beset with technical problems. It also deals a further blow to Areva whose flagship EPR reactor was destined for Calvert Cliffs. Beyond Nuclear also released a press statement on the Constellation decision.

Update on October 12, 2010 by admin

Here's what Peter Bradford (former NRC commissioner) and Harvey Wasserman have to say about the latest nuclear retreat.

Constellation next to run for the EPR exits?

The so-called nuclear "Renaissance" is starting to look less like a marble David and more like a collapsing cooling tower as U.S. utility, Constellation, becomes the next to run for the exits. According to a Bloomberg article, Constellation and French partner, EDF, are in frantic talks to try to save their joint U.S. venture - a third reactor at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant site on the shores of  the Chesapeake Bay.

GDF Suez pulls out of French EPR project throwing French nuclear expansion into doubt

GDF Suez, the second largest utility in France, has withdrawn from the newest nuclear reactor project there. GDF Suez, 35% state-owned, was a partner with the leading - and fully government-owned - French utility, EDF in the new reactor construction project planned at Penly on the north coast. But despite shouldering 25% of the financing, Suez was prevented by EDF from operating the reactor, a role reserved for EDF. Suez depended on operating experience to market its expertise overseas. The withdrawal marks another blow to the French EPR reactor project already suffering from huge delays and cost over-runs at its French and Finnish construction sites.

Is the "Nuclear Renaissance" Dead Yet?

America's much hyped "reactor renaissance" is facing a quadruple bypass. In actual new construction, proposed projects and overseas sales, soaring costs are killing new nukes. And the old ones are leaking like Dark Age relics on the brink of disaster. Huffington Post.