The Greenpeace weblog

Nuclear expert warns of safety flaws in EPR reactors being built in Finland and France

Justin — 2009-11-20T15:01:32+01:00

An independent expert commissioned by Greenpeace has found the two nuclear reactors currently being built in Finland and France have serious safety flaws in their design. Dr. Helmut Hirsch, Scientific Consultant for Nuclear Safety says the design of AREVA’s much heralded third-generation EPR reactor is ‘contradictory to the foundation of nuclear safety’.

A nuclear reactor’s control systems are supposed to be independent, so that a failure of one system doesn’t compromise the whole reactor. This is not the case with the EPR – its systems are interlinked. ‘In the worst case,’ says Dr Hirsch, ‘this can lead to a minor incident developing into a severe accident.’ This has led to the nuclear regulators in the UK (who are evaluating the EPR design as part of their nuclear ‘renaissance’), France and Finland to jointly express their concern with this design flaw.

This is on top of ongoing serious problems at the construction of the OL3 EPR at Olkiluoto, Finland. Last week it was found that the pipes in the reactor’s essential cooling system (the part of the reactor that prevents a meltdown) have been welded using unacceptable methods without any supervision or written records. The surface of the pipes had been welded to cover up damage which may have weakened the pipes beyond repair.

The number of defects in OL3’s construction is around 3,000. The Finnish nuclear regulator STUK has detected many that were in fact approved by AREVA’s quality control but can we be certain that STUK has found them all? In 2006 STUK admitted that they could not be sure due to the high number of problems.

What we can be certain of however is that the EPR reactor is a dangerous and failed experiment. The safety flaws highlighted by Dr Hirsch reveal that there can be no confidence in the safety of the EPR design. The massive budget and schedule overruns show that a programme of building EPRs across the planet, as AREVA plans, presents a very real threat to the fight against climate change. Neither must we forget the legacy of nuclear accidents.

EPR, like nuclear power as a whole, not only threatens our safety, but takes and wastes the vital money, time and resources that we need to expand renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes if we are serious about saving our climate. The risks are too great. EPR must be abandoned immediately.

Read Dr. Hirsch’s report here. Greenpeace’s EPR factsheet is here.

Nuclear News: Peak Uranium? Our nuclear future might be shorter than we thought

Justin — 2009-11-20T12:45:36+01:00

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Peak Uranium? Our nuclear future might be shorter than we thought
‘We’ve all heard of Peak Oil (even if there’s some doubt about whether we’ve heard the truth over when it’s going to actually kick in), but there’s no need to worry –nuclear power will step in to fill the gap, right? Well, not for long, perhaps, at least according to Dr Michael Dittmar and his new analysis of the global nuclear industry…’

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Naked truth about the F-word and the climate

laurak — 2009-11-20T12:20:46+00:00

F-gases. Their emissions have a much greater impact on our climate than carbon dioxide - and the impact is growing. But you don't need convincing - you've already watched the video above where Dave lays out the naked truth.

Sign the petition asking for a phase out by 2020 - and if you're up for it - put your signature where we can see it - on a body part! (Tasteful choices please!) See who has already donated their body to the cause:

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Intel in bed with big polluters on carbon offsets

tom — 2009-11-20T11:02:32+01:00

It's no secret that big polluting companies are going all out to try and destroy the chance of the US congress passing meaningful global warming legislation with significant emissions reduction targets. On big loop hole is the option of "offsetting" reductions abroad. The flawed nature of large scale carbon offsets has been exposed many times, recently by a Greenpeace investigation into offsets related to rainforest projects.

Big polluters love them because it's a cheap way of passing off their responsibility to someone else, somewhere else. Even though big polluters have already got the current draft US legislation filled with far too many loopholes, last week they wrote a letter asking for even more offsets, otherwise it would mean slightly lower multimillion profit margins. What was surprising was that joining such huge polluters such as Duke Energy, Dominion, Exelon and American Electric Power was Intel.

Yep Intel, one of the foundations of the IT industry that claims in can cut emissions by 15 percent by 2020 and generate billion of dollars of efficiency saving as well. Now Intel is firmly siding with the regressive, dirty companies and adding it's name to calls for US legislators to make even less effort to cut emissions in the US.

The full text of the letter and entertaining translation is in on our US blog but here's a flavour:

Re: The Importance of International Offsets for U.S. Climate Change Mitigation Efforts

Dear Senator Kerry, Senator Graham, and Senator Lieberman:

We, the undersigned, are companies that employ hundreds of thousands of American workers, and serve hundreds of millions of American consumers. We expect that our companies would be affected significantly by any greenhouse gas regulatory program. We write today to communicate our firm belief that in order for any such program to be both environmentally effective and economically sound it should be market-based and incorporate both domestic and international offsets. To this end, we are concerned about the further restrictions on use of international offset credits in S. 1733, reported last week by the Environment and Public Works Committee.

TRANSLATION: We are some of the biggest, richest polluters in the world and we have a lot invested in dirty business. If you pass climate legislation without huge loopholes for us, we’re going to be very upset. One of the most important loopholes we want are carbon offsets – cheap vouchers that allow us to side-step cutting our pollution with the rationale that someone else, somewhere else, will cut pollution instead. Sure, the legislation in Congress already has massive subsidies for us and billions of tons of offsets in it, but we are still not happy. We always want more.

When IT companies need to be championing a strong deal in Copenhagen Intel is pushing in the wrong direction. It certainly won't help Intel's score in our Cool IT Challenge. Maybe Intel deserves a new slogan "Intel is working on the technologies of the future today" is more like "Intel is promoting excuses at the expense of the future today"

Copenhagen: what's the IT industry doing about it?

mwilson — 2009-11-19T16:51:46+01:00

So how do ICT companies size up when it comes to action over climate change? Are some companies really much greener than others? Beyond the leafy veneer of their environmental CSR pages, will their initiatives really have deep impact, or are they just flower arranging?

The Cool IT campaign tracks 14 top companies, rating them based on five criteria: public climate speeches; political advocacy; climate solutions; own emissions targets and renewable energy use. These are combined to give a total score out of 100. At the moment, by our reckoning, less than 50/100 is pretty lame. Anyone who knows what it's like to score 43 on a school assignment would probably agree.

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Quotes of the day

Justin — 2009-11-19T13:55:29+01:00

“Nuclear power is a dangerous distraction to real solutions.”
Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greenpeace International

“Have a French nuclear industry that works. That means that we have to rethink the whole industry.”
Henri Proglio, the incoming boss of EDF

“For a nuclear power station to be built at Kirksanton, the Haverigg windfarm would have to be demolished.”
Jill Perry, Green Party candidate for Copeland, UK

Greenpeace Canada: The nuclear industry doesn’t trust itself…Why should we?

Justin — 2009-11-19T13:37:52+01:00

Why should we trust the nuclear industry when it doesn’t trust itself? That’s the underlining question of a Greenpeace report released this week.

The Harper government has tabled the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act in Parliament. The bill would, if passed, artificially cap the liability of a nuclear operator for accidents at $650 million – a miniscule fraction of the likely actual cost of a nuclear disaster. Why?

Read on…

Nuclear Tetris

Justin — 2009-11-19T13:27:06+01:00

Nuclear News: New Greenpeace Chief Kumi Naidoo Calls for Sustainable, Nuclear-Free Power Supply

Justin — 2009-11-19T13:09:59+01:00

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

New Greenpeace Chief Calls for Sustainable, Nuclear-Free Power Supply
‘Kumi Naidoo was appointed executive director of the environmental campaign group Greenpeace International this month after two decades leading civil society groups in Africa and internationally. Mr. Naidoo, 44, who is from South Africa, takes over the role at a time when environmentalism increasingly enjoys mainstream status, although the agenda of groups like Greenpeace remains at odds with those of many governments in critical areas like nuclear power and biotechnology. Mr. Naidoo, who is based in Amsterdam, answered questions on energy and climate policy in an e-mail exchange with Green Inc. ‘Nuclear power is a dangerous distraction to real solutions.’

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Every cloud has a silver lining

Lisa — 2009-11-19T12:41:39+00:00

When both you and the journalists who are accompanying you start getting arrested and deported it's usually a sign that you're doing something right. At least that's the case if you work for an organisation that takes direct action against injustice.

Amidst the detainments and deportations, tensions and tears in Indonesia - there is good news! The Indonesian government has just suspended the license of paper and pulp giant APRIL on the Kampar Peninsula. This means that they are forbidden to destroy any carbon-rich forests or peatlands in this area - pending a review of the company's permits.

Our activists have been stopping forest and peatland destruction on the peninsula and highlighting the significant role this destruction plays in climate change. With just 17 days before the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen they have clearly been ruffling a few feathers in Indonesia. But they have also significantly raised the level of international attention on the deforestation issue.

As the authorities are removing our activists, we're calling on the President of Indonesia to permanently remove the real offenders - and show real leadership in the run up to Copenhagen and stop the ongoing forest destruction by major corporations - click here to take action and support this call.

It is unclear at the moment if anyone from outside Indonesia or from the press is going to be allowed to visit the camp, despite their status either as legitimate guests of the country or journalists. There is also of course the risk that the authorities will try and close the camp down again. We simply can't afford to let that happen. The Indonesian authorities need to stop intimidating peaceful activists who are trying to help President Yudhoyono fulfill the commitment he has made to cut Indonesia’s massive CO2 emissions.

When the police tried to shut down our camp last time they were stopped by overwhelming numbers of local people coming out in support of the camp. Once again the local community have returned to the camp to show support despite the fact that police surveillance still hangs over the camp like a dark cloud. We can't be sure what will happen next...

But here's a message with even more good news from Chiara, an Italian activist from Sicily, who wrote this as she was about to be deported from Indonesia earlier today. She was detained by police before she even reached the camp!

Hello forest fighters!
As you maybe already know I'm one of the most "dangerous Italians in Indonesia" and I will leave the country in few hours to come back Italy. By now I am sure that many of you are aware of what's been happening to our activists at the Climate Defenders Camp.

Tom, Corinna and the 2 journalists who were accompanying us to the camp were given the deportation order two days ago and yesterday we came back to Jakarta where Raimondo (journalist) and I were picked up by the people of the Italian embassy - who took us under their authority.

Tom and I participated in a press conference which was organised by the Greenpeace South East Asia office so that we could tell our story to international and local media.

Since we were stopped by the police just a few kilometres away from the camp - the Greenpeace office in Italy started issuing press releases and faxes. They also made calls to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here. They did an excellent job and this produced STRONG outcomes in the media - making waves to ALL political levels in Italy.

I gave dozens of interviews with national newspapers, radio and
magazines. Yesterday the Espresso published an interview with Raimondo together with a beautiful photo gallery.

And the response is overwhelming! The Italian government has now publicly declared a strong position on forest protection in order to save the climate - for the first time!

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also demanded an explanation from the Italian ambassador in Indonesia - just as the Indonesian Vice President and his delegation is arriving in Rome for a diplomatic visit.

In a few hours I will be escorted by the ambassador to the airport to get my passport and then I am being deported to Italy. I really would like to send the strongest embrace to all the people at the camp that I couldn't join. I'm very proud of what you did and will keep doing!

Please stay tuned. It is far from over - and we really need your support!

baci e abbracci a tutti
Chiara

>>Support the Climate Defenders Camp by writing the President of Indonesia today! It only takes a few seconds to send the letter through our website and you don't need even need to pick up a pen!

>>Get all the blogs from the Climate Defenders Camp!

The Happy Ranger reaches Finland

Justin — 2009-11-18T13:26:35+01:00

The Happy Ranger carrying both steam generators - for AREVA's disaster-prone OL3 EPR nuclear reactor at Olkiluoto in Finland - and eight Greenpeace activists arrived at their destination this afternoon. After the formalities of Finnish immigration, our heroes are now enjoying well deserved baths, hot dinners and celebrations.

A press conference will be held in Helsinki on Friday and we'll bring you all the details from there. This isn't the end of the story so stay tuned.

(A full briefing on Areva's OL3, its many safety issues and negative impact on Finnish climate policy is available here. One of the activists on board, Lauri Myllyvirta, blogged the experience here. There are photos and video, and more photos.)

Nuclear News - Nuclear power: less effective than energy efficiency and renewable energy?

Justin — 2009-11-18T12:07:36+01:00

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Nuclear power: less effective than energy efficiency and renewable energy?
‘If the U.S. wants to help stop global warming, nuclear power is not the way to go, according to a new report released today. The Environment California Research & Policy Center concluded that launching a nuclear power industry nearly from the ground up is too slow and expensive a process. Energy efficiency standards and renewable energy options are better solutions, researchers said. Currently, no new nuclear reactors are under construction in the country, and no U.S. power company has ordered a nuclear plant since 1978. Meanwhile, building a reactor would probably take around a decade - 2016 at the earliest, the study suggested. Without an existing infrastructure, manufacturing reactor parts with the dearth of trained personnel would be difficult. But even if the nuclear industry managed to build 100 reactors by 2030, the total power produced would reduce total U.S. emissions only 12% over the next 20 years, which Environment California deemed “far too little, too late.”’

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AREVA is unhappy about the Happy Ranger

Justin — 2009-11-17T19:20:42+01:00

French nuclear giant AREVA is upset by the six Greenpeace activists who boarded the transport ship Happy Ranger in the Fehmarn Belt strait between Denmark and Germany. The ship is taking massive steam generators to the construction site of AREVA’s beleaguered OL3 EPR nuclear reactor in Olkiluoto, Finland.

The company says it is ‘saddened that Greenpeace refuses to engage in a calmer debate on energy issues’. Just how this ‘calmer debate’ is supposed to take place in the eyes of AREVA remains unclear. AREVA studiously ignore the issues raised on this blog, for example, although we know AREVA people are avid readers. And a visit to the facility where these large EPR components have been produced will not advance us in the debate on how nuclear energy undermines climate protection or how the choice for nuclear power has shut the door for renewable energies in Finland. A calmer debate? Greenpeace is ready when you are, AREVA.

The company certainly wasn’t interested in calm debate at the European Commission’s European Nuclear Energy Forum (Enef) this year. Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Sortir du Nucléaire - the only groups invited into the industry-dominated body - walked out accusing Enef of ‘stifling critical voices’, ‘ignoring their concerns and riding roughshod over alternative scientific evidence’. If the likes of AREVA are so sure of themselves and their reactors you have to wonder why they have to resort to such cover-up and cowardice.

On top of that, AREVA spokesperson Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier seems to think some kind of ‘association’ is ‘opening up’ between AREVA and Greenpeace just because a Greenpeace team visited the AREVA uranium mines in Niger last week. As if inviting people to the hellish nightmare of what AREVA has done in Niger would endear the company to anyone.

In its Happy Ranger press release AREVA also uses a rather strange and inappropriate metaphor…

To quote a well-known saying, "Our house is burning and we are looking the other way". If we apply this metaphor, then Greenpeace's attempts to stand in the way of nuclear power is like preventing a trusted fire service from getting to the blaze.

AREVA is comparing nuclear reactors to a ‘fire service’ fighting against the ‘burning’ that is climate change. Now, we don’t know about you, but if our house was burning we’d want the fire service at the scene immediately. We wouldn’t want the fire service being massively delayed and taking years to arrive like AREVA's nuclear reactors are. By the time the AREVA fire truck arrives the house could be in ruins. And just imagine the highly toxic and radioactive extinguishing chemicals that AREVA uses when trying to put out this fire. Even if they managed to save the house, it would be uninhabitable for thousands and thousands of years.

And don’t get us started on ‘trusted’.

(Get the latest news on the Greenpeace activists’ progress on Greenpeace Finland’s Twitter feed and Nuclear Reaction’s Twitter feed. One of the activists on board, Lauri Myllyvirta, is blogging here. There are photos and video, and more photos.)

Nuclear News: India puts nuclear plants on alert

Justin — 2009-11-17T19:15:13+01:00

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

India puts nuclear plants on alert
‘NEW DELHI, Nov 16 (Reuters) - India has put its nuclear power plants under alert and tightened security around them after intelligence about possible attacks, a report said on Monday. The step comes after a man arrested in the United States on charges of plotting attacks in India was found to have travelled to Indian states that have nuclear installations. The Press Trust of India quoted unnamed sources in the home ministry as saying that state governments had been asked to step up security around their nuclear plants as a "precautionary measure".’

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Eight Greenpeace activists now aboard the Happy Ranger

Justin — 2009-11-17T15:30:20+01:00

The Happy Ranger is taking up speed again with after stopping when two more Greenpeace activists boarded the ship between Gotland and Öland. There are now eight activists aboard bearing witness to this transport of main components of the new Finnish reactor at Olkiluoto - Lauri, Rosa, Tuomas, Mai, Andreas, Jacky, Elisabeth, and Niko.

The Happy Ranger is expected to arrive in Finland tomorrow afternoon.

(Get the latest news on the Greenpeace activists’ progress on Greenpeace Finland’s Twitter feed and Nuclear Reaction’s Twitter feed. One of the activists on board, Lauri Myllyvirta, is blogging here. Here are photos and video, and more photos.)