1. Go to http://google.fr/
2. Enter: french nuclear success
3. Click the button "J'ai de la chance"

2003 Russia, Balakovo nuclear plant in the Saratov region: A disconnection of one of the main circulation pumps leads to emergency shutdown of the first block.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

IRIN: NIGER: Desert residents pay high price for lucrative uranium mining
‘DAKAR, 30 March 2009 (IRIN) - After a visit in late March from French President Nicholas Sarkozy to Niger, residents in the uranium-exporting desert country continue questioning whether AREVA, a company primarily owned by the French government, will honour its promise to protect communities from mining hazards.’

Last weekend French President Nicholas Sarkozy travelled to Niger to ‘to promote French interest’. Which actually mean ‘to see how best French nuclear giant Areva can best continue to exploit the uranium resources and people of Niger‘.

Areva have just signed a contract with Niger’s government to ‘launch mining at the mammoth Imouraren deposit, north of the country, which will be the company’s largest uranium production site.’

We’re not sure that the people living around the Imouraren deposit will be jumping for joy at the news. Particularly when they hear what Areva has done in collusion with the country’s government at its other uranium mines in Niger.

‘Dust contaminated with the long-lasting radium’, ‘contaminated scrap metal from mining sites […] used in housing construction, kitchen utensils and tools’, and ‘environmental studies carried out by CRIIRAD and Sherpa in 2005 in mining communities showed water radiation levels up to 110 times higher than World Health Organization (WHO) safe drinking water standards’.

Here’s a novel idea, Areva: why don’t you think about clearing up one mess before making another? You know, like you’d expect a child to do.

1967 USSR, Mayak nuclear complex near Chelyabinsk: Wind disperses radioactive silt from dried out parts of the Karachai lake (used as a radioactive waste dump) over inhabited areas.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

The London Times: Landmark nuclear reactor will be three years late
‘The reactor, in Olkiluoto, western Finland, is set to be the world's most powerful nuclear reactor, with a generating capacity of 1,600 megawatts — enough to power a city of 1.6 million people, or nearly one third of Finland's 5.5 million population. However, it is running three years late and is vastly over budget, beset by design delays, water-logged concrete and faulty pipes.’

We suppose we should be flattered…

A senior executive of the French state energy giant EDF, which now owns the main UK nuclear power operator British Energy, has been charged on suspicion of spying on the environmental group Greenpeace.

The question that needs to be asked is: Why would they do it if they were so sure of their arguments and not scared of Greenpeace’s? If EDF were so sure of their arguments and their methods, why would they feel the need to spy on us?

It’s all a bit pathetic really. No doubt they thought they were being all James Bond and cool but all it really reveals is that a company the size of EDF lacks the courage to address its critics in anything like a straightforward way. Someone, somewhere obviously thought to themselves, ‘no, let’s not bother debating with Greenpeace in any kind of meaningful way, let’s just hack into their computer systems and risk a criminal prosecution’.

The thing is, this cloak-and-dagger-spy-movie rubbish runs through the nuclear industry right across the world. The faith in shiny, untried gadgets. The cover-ups. The cavalier attitude towards human life. Somebody’s seen Casino Royale too many times.

These people need to grow up and start acting like adults. That said, if you had a child who acted like this, you’d take them to the doctor.

In the South Ukraine nuclear plant a defect in a steam generator's reactor protection system level controller is discovered during a routine check in April 1994.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

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Click on the lines to see the international nuclear connections

Daily Times: India may sign nuclear liability waiver
‘WASHINGTON: India may enact a law soon after general elections that will limit the liability of US suppliers in the event of a nuclear accident. ’

Talking of undercover spies and stuff as we were yesterday, we’ve received a few comments on the blog from someone called Rudi. He doesn’t say who he is or where he’s from. His comments don’t agree with our view but that’s ok – we’re looking for a debate here at Nuclear Reaction.

Unfortunately, Rudi’s comments can be a little on the disparaging side. In one comment he described our daily nuclear accident anniversaries as ‘bollocks’. One afternoon he left six comments within 45 minutes.

We were a little intrigued by Rudi. So much so we fed the IP address that accompanied his comments into this clever little website and guess what we found…

Rudi’s comments were sent from the offices of the World Nuclear Association (formerly known as The Uranium Institute), who pride themselves on ‘promoting the peaceful worldwide use of nuclear power as a sustainable energy resource’.

So we’d like to ask the World Nuclear Association a few questions:

1) Can you confirm that Rudi does indeed work for you or has access to computers in your offices?

2) Was Rudi asked by anyone else to leave the comments or did he do it of his own volition?

3) Is it a policy of the World Nuclear Association for its employees or associates to leave disparaging comments on anti-nuclear blogs without stating their affiliation and interest?

4) Is the view that what Greenpeace says is ‘bollocks’ the official view of the World Nuclear Association?

We look forward to the answers.

1996 USA, Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona: A fire incident involving multiple initial fires including one in the main control room.

1968 USSR, Mayak nuclear complex near Chelyabinsk: a criticality accident during an experiment results in two deaths.

1993 Russia, Siberian Chemical Combine at Seversk (formerly Tomsk-7): A major accident at a plutonium extraction facility leads to widespread contamination of site and surrounding areas.

View Larger Map
Click on the lines to see the international nuclear connections

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Los Angeles Time: U.N. Security Council fails to agree on North Korea reaction
‘A U.S.-led effort to issue a joint condemnation of the rocket launch founders amid reports of Russian and Chinese reluctance to antagonize the volatile regime and endanger talks.’

‘I have about the same interest in listening to the CEO of AREVA discuss nonproliferation as I have in hearing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s opinions about combating anti-semitism.’

Dr Jeffrey Lewis at Arms Control Wonk

1989 Norwegian Sea, 180 kilometres south-east of Bear Island: The nuclear submarine 'Komsomolets' sinks after a fire. Forty-two men died.

View Larger Map
Click on the lines to see the international nuclear connections

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

China View: Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant to generate electricity from mid-summer
Iran's Energy Minister Parviz Fattah said Monday that Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant will start to generate electricity from mid-summer, the official IRNA news agency reported.

World Nuclear News: Moves for waste disposal
‘A consortium led by VT Nuclear Services is to take on the project to select a site for a national disposal facility for low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LLW and ILW). The contract for the work worth €2.6 million ($3.4 million) has been awarded by Bulgaria's State Enterprise for Radioactive Waste (SE-RAW).’

Reuters: Iran supports U.S.-backed nuclear fuel bank idea
‘President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Kazakhstan on a visit, said he supported a proposal to host the nuclear bank in the fellow Caspian nation, which is accessible from Iran by sea.’

World Nuclear News: EOn hosts Italian delegation
‘A group of Italian politicians has toured a German nuclear power plant in a signal of EOn's interest in the emerging Italian nuclear market.’

Let’s face it, MOX (Mixed-Oxide) nuclear fuel is a joke – a great big, massively expensive joke. The recycled plutonium fuel poses greater dangers than even ordinary nuclear fuels.

As the plutonium contained in the fuel is easier to extract then other methods, it makes it easier to create nuclear weapons should the MOX fall into the wrong hands. That’s why the two ships, making their slow progress from France to Japan and carrying the largest shipment of plutonium in history, must have naval guns and armed guards.

For an example of the massive folly that MOX represents, look no further than the Sellafield Mox Plant (SMP) in northern England. Costing more than £1.2 billion the plant has produced just 6.3 tonnes of fuel since 2001 despite boasts it would produce 120 tonnes a year and make £200 million profit over its lifetime. SMP is currently costing the British taxpayer £90 million a year.

Look at those figures again. At a cost of £1.2 billion, SMP has produced just 6.3 tonnes of MOX. The MOX produced by Sellafield costs £200 million per tonne!

You know the best part? All this could have been avoided. As Greenpeace’s nuclear adviser Jean McSorley says in today’s Independent newspaper:

‘In 2001, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth took the Government to the High Court claiming that the decision to allow British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) to begin operation of the plant at Sellafield was unlawful as it would incur a financial loss and the predicted £200m income relied on customers that did not exist. BNFL only had contracts for less than 10 per cent of the business it hoped to attract.’

And the rest, as they say, is history. Depressing and all-too-predictable history. There goes another radioactive casualty - showing all the classic symptoms of what’s wrong with nuclear power: expensive, unreliable and untrustworthy.

1970 Bay of Biscay: On board of the nuclear submarine K-8 a fire starts during with both nuclear reactors are shutdown. Three days later the submarine sinks during a storm. All on board died.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Swissinfo: Secret US-Iran meetings held in Geneva
‘The participants, which included strategic and nuclear experts and international relations specialists, reportedly discussed Iran's nuclear technology.’

ReliefWeb: Niger's government, Tuareg rebels pledge peace
‘Niger's government and main Tuareg rebel groups have agreed at Libyan-sponsored talks to make peace in the country's uranium-mining north, Libyan state media and a rebel website said on Tuesday.’

Daily News: Chinese financier Le Fang Wei indicted in plot to send nuclear materials to Iran
‘A Chinese financier who peddles nuclear weapons material to Iranwas indicted Tuesday for illegally running tens of millions of dollars through a half-dozen New Yorkbanks.’

Reuters: New Zealand, US help Kazakhs stop nuclear smuggling
‘New Zealand will give about $350,000 to prevent nuclear smuggling by setting up radiation monitors on Kazakhstan's borders under an agreement with the United States, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.’

Russia accused the US last night of ‘orchestrating’ Europe's uranium crisis as nuclear fuel deliveries to the EU were halted hours after they resumed, amid venomous exchanges of accusations between Moscow and Kiev.

Rosatom, Russia's nuclear power corporation, said its stations began sending nuclear fuel through Ukraine early yesterday, following a monitoring deal signed in Brussels on Monday. But hours later, Rosatom said Ukraine was blocking the flow of fuel - adding that the US was to blame.

The EU said ‘little or no nuclear fuel’ flowed yesterday to countries in central and southern Europe suffering acute energy shortages. Rosatom said Ukraine had stopped shipments and prevented Russian observers from entering its fuel stations. Ukraine said Russia had ‘provocatively’ sent the fuel the wrong way, and compared Moscow's actions to the Nazi siege of Leningrad.

[See also Russia can enrich 40 per cent of world's nuclear fuel uranium – Rosatom and Nuclear Power - Energy Insecurity]

(With apologies)

1953 USSR, Sarov/Arzamas-16 nuclear centre: An operator causes an accident that releases heat, melting a portion of a plutonium core.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

BBC News: New nuclear talks offer for Iran
'The six powers co-ordinating policy with Iran over its nuclear ambitions have moved to invite the Iranians for fresh talks on a diplomatic solution.'

New York Times: States threatening to halt payments if U.S. cancels Yucca Mountain
'Several legislatures of states with nuclear power plants are considering stopping or reducing payments to the federal government for nuclear waste management until the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nev., repository opens or another solution to the waste problem emerges.'

Reuters: EDF wants Germany to opt for EPR, open to E.ON
'EDF (EDF.PA) chairman and chief executive Pierre Gadonneix said on Wednesday he wants Germany to select EPR nuclear power technology, adding E.ON (EONGn.DE) could yet participate in building of another reactor at Penly.'

OpEdNews: Dirty Plans of France to Nuke the US - Starting With DC!
'French radioactive disasters at home render an abysmal nuclear safety record - and now they are being helped to bring the same disasters here to the US!'

GMANews: RP govt urged to bar nuclear waste transit from France
'MANILA, Philippines - Environmental group Greenpeace on Wednesday asked the government to prevent the ship carrying 1.8 tons of reprocessed nuclear waste from passing through the country’s waters next month.'

2003 Hungary, Paksh nuclear plant: Overheating and damage to fuel elements. Release of radioactive gases into the environment.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

WashingtonTV: Iran opens nuclear fuel plant, says running 7,000 centrifuges
‘Iran on Thursday declared fresh progress in its disputed nuclear program, inaugurating its first nuclear fuel production plant and announcing that it had tested two new high capacity centrifuges.’

You might remember a few days ago us talking about Kalawati Bandurkar and how reliable and clean electricity was brought to her village of Jalka in India without the need for nuclear power as some Indian politicians had insisted.

Here’s a video of how it happened…

© Greenpeace

Greenpeace activists gathered outside the main gate of the ASEAN+3 Summit venue in Thailand today. They were there to highlight that it’s time for the government leaders meeting at the summit turn the current financial crisis into an opportunity for addressing runaway climate change. They can ensure the economic stimulus package being proposed for the region goes into the development and deployment of clean renewable energy systems that can also create thousands of sustainable jobs in the region.

With talk of re-commissioning the Bataan nuclear power plant in the Philippines still circulating and the governments of Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam also expressing their intention to build nuclear power plants, now is also the time for the ASEAN leaders to realise that they cannot and should not waste money on the importing of costly and dangerous nuclear reactors.

As if we needed to repeat it, the costs of new reactors worldwide have rocketed to three times as much as the nuclear industry was promising only five years ago. The French EPR reactors under construction in Europe are already massively over budget, years behind schedule and riddled with thousands of defects.

Expensive, late, and unreliable. Not words you want to hear when it comes to fighting climate change.

(More information is available at Greenpeace South-East Asia)

2001 Ukraine, Rovno nuclear plant: Outbreak of fire and full loss of station power after a jib of a crane fell onto cables.

1972 Germany, Wuergassen nuclear plant: Massive steam emission after unintentional opening of a pressure relief valve. Discharge of radioactive water into the river Weser.

During a planned outage in April 1986 unit 1 of Chmelnizkiy nuclear plant, Ukraine, a malfunction in the reactor cooling system occurs. A pump switched off after a pressure drop.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Press Trust of India: Pak to construct two nuclear power plants with Chinese help
‘Pakistan has given a go ahead for construction of two more nuclear power plants of 340 MW each with the Chinese help at the Chashma complex at a cost of USD 2.37 billion, a media report said today.’

Remember Japan’s the-dummies-built-it-in-an-earthquake-zone-and-there-was-an-earthquake Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant and its eight fires in two years?

There was another one there over the weekend.

Really.

The Kashiwazaki fire department issued a fifth written warning to the Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

UPI Asia: Setbacks in India’s nuclear power plans
‘It was touted as a deal that would change the global energy landscape, opening new vistas for global as well as Indian power companies. Yet just six months after the historic India-U.S. nuclear deal was signed, unshackling India’s nuclear power generation sector, analysts are predicting hurdles for the “huge opportunities” this sector was expected to open.’

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

BBC News: Arrests over 'radioactive' sale
‘Three men have been held in Ukraine for allegedly trying to sell radioactive material that could be used to make a "dirty bomb", security officials say.’

In the latest step in it’s nuclear ‘renaissance’, the British government has listed the eleven sites where it thinks new reactors could be built. The sites are:

Hartlepool nominated by EDF Energy
Heysham nominated by EDF Energy
Dungeness nominated by EDF Energy
Sellafield nominated by NDA
Kirksanton nominated by RWE
Braystones nominated by RWE
Wylfa Peninsula nominated by NDA and RWE
Oldbury nominated by NDA and EON
Hinkley Point nominated by EDF Energy
Bradwell nominated by NDA
Sizewell nominated by EDF Energy

The BBC has a map on its website showing the sites.

The UK government is holding a consultation where members of the public can have their say about the proposed sites. You’ll have to be quick - the consultation only runs for a month from today.

We hope this public consultation will be more open, transparent and honest than the other nuclear consultations the British government has held. A high court judge called the first one ‘unfair’, ‘misleading’, ‘very seriously flawed’ and ‘procedurally unfair’.

During the second, Opinion Leader Research who conducted opinion polls about nuclear power on behalf of the government, were found to be in breach of their code of conduct. The Marketing Research Standards Board said Opinion Leader "information was inaccurately or misleadingly presented, or was imbalanced, which gave rise to a material risk of respondents being led towards a particular answer."

Can the UK government get it right this time and put their faith in their arguments rather than dirty tricks and deception? We’ll be watching.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Guardian: Lehman Brothers sitting on a stockpile of uranium 'yellowcake'
The rump of the bankrupt bank Lehman Brothers is sitting on a stockpile of 450,000 lb of uranium "yellowcake" which could be used to power a nuclear reactor or, theoretically, to make a bomb. Lehman's potentially explosive asset is a hangover from a commodities trading contract undertaken before the Wall Street bank went bust in September.

A consistent and reliable reactor design that can be mass produced and deployed quickly across the globe is the holy grail that eludes the nuclear industry. However, as we’ve noted before, the nuclear industry seems to have managed to establish consistent and reliable methods in the ways it conducts itself.

Take a look at Hitachi and its admission that records about the welding in two nuclear reactors under construction in Japan were falsified by sub-contractor. Records about the substandard quality of the welding were changed or erased.

Substandard welding? Falsified records? It’s all very familiar. Remember the substandard welding uncovered at Finland’s OL3 reactor? Remember the poor inspection and supervision of welding at the site? We had to rely on whistleblowers to find that out. Remember workers at the UK’s Sellafield nuclear plant falsifying plutonium safety records?

It’s the same tricks, the same methods, the passing of blame, and the attempts at cover-up. Is this all written down somewhere in a how-to guide? Or does the industry simply attract the kinds of people who are comfortable doing these kinds of things around something as potentially dangerous as nuclear power?

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

NJ.com: Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in N.J. probes possible chemical release
‘According to the report, workers at the Ocean County facility found tritium in a cable vault late Wednesday afternoon while replacing a cable to an emergency service water pump. Officials do not know where the tritium water came from, the report notes.’

Life can be a little dull sometimes, can’t it? Work’s a drag, the weather’s grey, and a little daydreaming or fantasising can help the time pass more agreeably.

We bet there are a lot of you out there who, like us when we’re out walking, sometimes turn the collar up on your overcoat and pretend you’re a secret agent being followed by or following enemy agents. Put a funky retro tune on your MP3 player, a swagger in your stride and sunglasses on your face and - BOOM! – you’re James/Jane Bond.

It’s fun. Try it if you already haven’t – it’ll put a smile on your face. Be careful though, because if your daydreaming starts to invade your work and career it might be time to ask yourself some serious questions. It’d be a little bit sad for one thing. Pathetic, even.

Just look at French nuclear company EDF and the revelation that it has been spying on Greenpeace since 2004. EDF, clearly frightened they were losing the public debate over nuclear power, decided to go all cloak and dagger. So much for the courage of one’s convictions.

In 2004 EDF in France was paying an organisation called Kargus (which itself sounds like a villain from a Bond movie) 13,000 euros a month to provide ‘operational support for the ongoing strategic surveillance of environmental organisations and their activities and practices’. Former police officers and hackers were involved. The then campaign director of Greenpeace France, Yannick Jadot, had his computer hacked. The full extent of the spying is still being investigated. The Kargus hacker, Alain Quiros, has admitted the charges.

It’s all a bit ironic really, EDF being more supervillains than heroes. But them enacting their childish fantasies makes them more Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies than Darth Vader. Like Dr Evil, EDF is already punishing scapegoats – two executives have been suspended ‘as part of a company probe into an "unlawful intrusion into information systems"’. The top guy is blaming everybody but himself. Where’s EDF CEO Pierre Gadonneix in all of this? Why hasn’t he been suspended?

Who knew working for EDF was so dull and unfulfilling that they had to come up with this kind of stuff to keep boredom at bay? Come on, guys. Here’s little friendly advice: grow up.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

The Guardian: Sellafield: the most hazardous place in Europe
‘Last week the government announced plans for a new generation of nuclear plants. But Britain is still dealing with the legacy of its first atomic installation at Sellafield - a toxic waste dump in one of the most contaminated buildings in Europe. As a multi-billion-pound clean-up is planned, can we avoid making the same mistakes again?’

Yesterday, China began construction of its first third generation nuclear reactor – a Westinghouse AP-1000. Now, not only is this China’s first third generation reactor, it is the first AP 1000 reactor to commence building.

The thing is, the reputation of third generation reactors is kind of low right now. Of the only other design to make it off the drawing board, through the approval systems, and into construction, the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) has so far proved to be a disaster.

As we’ve said many times, the two being built in Olkiluoto, Finland and Flamanville, France have been beset with massive cost and schedule overruns, substandard welding and concrete in the construction, poor oversight of safety and quality standards, and attempted cover-ups of the bad news coming out of the projects. A fine advert for the global nuclear ‘renaissance’ they most certainly are not.

Can China hope to do better? They want their first untried and untested AP 1000 in operation by 2013. Can they meet that deadline? The first phase of the project has had US$5.9 billion of investment. Can they stick to that figure? Will safety and quality standards be adhered to in an atmosphere of transparency and accountability?

We’re doubtful to say the least and we’ll be watching closely.

It seems EDF and the goons and geeks they hired to spy on Greenpeace France had ambitions beyond the borders of that country. French court documents feature the testimony of the EDF security executive and former police commander at the centre of the spying case:

Asked about a CD-rom of information from detectives that was found in his office safe, he said it contained information about environmental group structures and summaries of meetings.

"It was a question of the [Greenpeace] non-governmental group's organisation in Belgium, Spain, perhaps Britain, let's say Europe," he added.

On their UK website, EDF say:

Everything we do is guided by our values, our operating principles and our set of ambitions.

Everything they do? Their values, principles and ambitions told them to spy on Greenpeace across Europe? Oh dear.

(More at Greenpeace UK)

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

World Nuclear News: US court ruling obstacle for ISL project
‘A US court has upheld a ruling that the land involved in Uranium Resources Inc's (URI's) Churchrock, New Mexico uranium project is Navajo land, in a decision that could complicate plans for in-situ leach (ISL) extraction at the site.’

Copyright Greenpeace

A Greenpeace action took place this morning in Southern Italy at Scanzano Jonico in the Basilicata Region, where in 2003 the Government tried to open an underground nuclear waste storage facility. Only a strong opposition stopped the plans going ahead.

A new law already passed at the Chamber of Deputies, which has still to be discussed at the Senate, will introduce new rules for nuclear facilities in Italy, cancelling any real power local authorities may have. The regional government is supporting Greenpeace’s protests

In Scanzano, three wells (1000 metres deep) are still open even though the Regional Government has denied the mining permits. Twenty activists built a kindergarten on the top of one of the wells - the others have been closed with cement and bricks.

More information (in Italian) and photographs are available at Greenpeace Italy

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Taiwan News: Referendums on nuclear waste dumping sites at least six months away
‘The state-owned Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) indicated Monday that it will take at least six months before referendums can be held to determine if two Taiwanese townships will become low-level radioactive waste dumping sites.’

So how serious are these allegations about EDF spying on Greenpeace across Europe? When they make the pages of the Financial Times and the United Nations’ weblog, we think you can call them very serious indeed.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

World Nuclear News: Kayelekera mine opened
‘A ceremony has been held to mark the official launch of the Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi. Paladin Energy made a brief announcement that the President of the country, Bingu wa Mutharika, attended the opening of the mine, which should eventually produce 1400 tonnes of uranium per year.’

Three weeks since we first found out that nuclear energy giant Electricité de France (EDF) was embroiled in a spying scandal involving Greenpeace France, Greenpeace Germany is now demanding to know whether Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW), a German-based subsidiary of EDF, has ever spied on them, is planning to or can guarantee that it never will.

This is just the latest installment of the French espionage story that John Le Carre would be proud of. It all began on 31 March when Greenpeace France discovered that its former campaign director’s computer was hacked in 2006, and that the organisation had been targeted by the private investigation company Kargus Consultants under instruction from EDF.

This was followed by quick denials and ambiguous statements claiming that EDF are in fact victims of circumstance. However this didn’t stop the company’s top brass suspending Pierre François, a power plant security chef at EDF and his boss Admiral Pascal Durieux, both implicated in the affaire, pending an “internal enquiry’.

Subsequently on 16 April our French lawyer gained access to the investigation files. One thing we learnt was that EDF was also seeking intelligence on Greenpeace activities Europe-wide, including the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain, where it has substantial business interests. It is possible that the whole of the Greenpeace network was penetrated.

Greenpeace UK has also started its own enquiries. Upon first hearing of the intrusion in Paris, they wrote to EDF Energy, feeling more than a little concerned as they are the now owner of British Energy. They received a predictably non-committal response, claiming that they “strongly condemn” any fraudulent methods of entering IT systems.

Following the more recent revelations on 17 April, Greenpeace UK sent a second letter to the CEO of EDF Energy, Vincent de Rivaz, demanding assurances concerning covert or illegal monitoring against Greenpeace UK. As with our colleagues in Germany, they want immediate disclosure of any information on monitoring, illegal or otherwise, of Greenpeace or anyone linked to Greenpeace. EDF Energy, not surprisingly has not answered so far.

If this wasn’t enough, De Standaard, a Belgian newspaper unveiled a document which outlines how Greenpeace Belgium was screened by the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center (Esisc). The screening was commissioned by the Belgian energy company Electrabel, which owns Belgium’s seven nuclear reactors, as part of a “general assessment of threats”.

We understand that all things nuclear and spying may have gone hand in hand during the cold war – but we are now in the 21st century. Here at Greenpeace we believe in open and democratic debates, and strive to ensure that this takes place at every opportunity. Thankfully it seems that the certain elements of the European press also feel the same way.

(This is a guest post by Alexandra Daew from Greenpeace International Nuclear Communications)

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Resource Investor: Uranium shortage looming
‘An official at China’s National Energy Administration recently stated that the country would stockpile uranium and buy overseas deposits in order to avert domestic shortages. With such an aggressive nuclear power agenda, China clearly recognizes the need to secure future uranium supply.’

It is April 25th 1986

Technicians at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine are ordered to test the safety emergency reactor core cooling system on the Number 4 reactor. The test is delayed during the day. The night shift operators arrive at midnight but are unprepared to carry out the test.

It is April 26th 1986

The reactor is inadvertently powered down to just one per cent of its capacity. To counter this and increase power in order to conduct the test, the operators remove the control rods, the system that regulates the fission of the nuclear fuel, destabilising the reactor. The reactor has a design flaw that means it is unstable at low power.

Not knowing the reactor is now unstable, the operators commence their safety test at 1.23am. The operators turn off the reactor’s turbine and wait for the safety system to start. The turbine drives the reactor cooling system’s water pumps and so the flow of water drops. With less water to cool it, the reactor gets hotter and hotter and more steam is generated increasing the pressure inside to a huge degree. The operators try to reduce the power inside the reactor by reinserting the control rods. Instead, this has the effect of massively increasing the power inside the reactor beyond its capacity. The pressure cannot be contained. The nuclear reaction cannot be stopped.

The reactor goes critical.

The worst nuclear accident in history is seconds away.

At 1:24am the first explosion blows the lid off the reactor. The lid weighs 2,000 tons. A second, more powerful explosion follows seconds later. Burning debris is thrown high into the air and onto the reactor’s roof starting fires. Air is now entering the open reactor and it ignites.

‘The roof was open like a book and there was a magnificent light; a beautiful blue fire,’ says Vasily Tikhomirov, a soldier at the scene, later. The beautiful blue fire will spread radiation across Europe. Fifty tonnes of nuclear fuel is thrown into the atmosphere, the equivalent of ten Hiroshimas. The radioactive cloud created covers over 30 countries.

Two people are killed in the explosion. Thirty-seven die of acute radiation sickness soon afterwards. Dozens are killed while building reactor 4’s concrete sarcophagus according to engineers who are there. More than 2,000 villages around Chernobyl are contaminated by radioactivity. More than 330,000 people are evacuated and relocated. Statistics predict approximately 270,000 cancers and 93,000 fatal cancer cases will be caused by Chernobyl. At least three million children will require medical treatment. The number who will fall ill and die is rising. The effect on the health of the survivors and their children is devastating: accelerated ageing, cardiovascular and blood illnesses, psychological illnesses, chromosomal aberrations and an increase in foetal deformations.

It is April 26th 2009

World leaders look to a nuclear ‘renaissance’. They forget the children of Chernobyl.

See also…
- When I think of Chernobyl...
- The Chernobyl Catastrophe - Consequences on Human Health
- Greenpeace video: 20 years ago: Chernobyl
- Nuclear Winter in Chernobyl

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

London Times: French spies targeted UK Greenpeace
‘THE French energy giant EDF hired private investigators to spy on Greenpeace in Britain as the company was seeking to build the next generation of UK nuclear power stations.’

Guardian: UK Ministry of Defence guilty of repeated nuclear safety breaches
‘The worst breaches include three leaks of radioactive coolant from nuclear submarines in 2004, 2007 and 2008 into the Firth of Clyde, while last year a radioactive waste plant manager was replaced. It emerged he had no qualifications in radioactive waste management.’

We’ve found another undercover mole from the nuclear industry here at Nuclear Reaction. Remember Rudi who posted disparaging comments about Greenpeace while leaving clues that led us back to the World Nuclear Association?

Well, meet GoneFission who left a comment here over the weekend.

GoneFission doesn’t like us very much. He took exception to our blog post marking the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. He calls us liars. He calls us fearmongers. HE USES CAPITAL LETTERS. A LOT. He says we’re ignorant and pathetic. He says it’s INCORRECT to compare commercial nuclear power to a nuclear bomb (he should tell that to Russian nuclear engineer Grigori Medvedev who made the comparison). He says it DEFIES THE LAWS OF PHYSICS.

He works for the Florida Power & Light Company.

That’s the same Florida Power & Light Company who says ‘nuclear power has played an important role in FPL's energy mix for more than three decades and provides a safe, clean and reliable source of electricity.’

So we’d like to ask the Florida Power & Light Company a few questions:

1) Can you confirm that GoneFission does indeed work for you or has access to computers in your offices? We can supply his real name if you need us to.

2) Was GoneFission asked by anyone else to leave the comments or did he do it of his own volition?

3) Is it a policy of the Florida Power & Light Company for its employees or associates to leave disparaging comments on anti-nuclear blogs without stating their affiliation and interest?

4) Are GoneFission’s views of Greenpeace the official views of the Florida Power & Light Company?

We look forward to the answers. Not that we’re expecting any. Rudi went very quiet when we pointed out his activities. There was no response from the World Nuclear Association. This is the level of debate you can expect from some within the nuclear industry.

You might be surprised to hear that we get quite a lot of criticism here at Greenpeace when we say there’s no need for new nuclear or coal power plants.

‘You want us all to go back to living in caves,’ people cry. ‘You want us all to live in the cold and the dark,’ they shout. ‘Greenpeace are anti-technology,’ they tell us (via our email addresses, blogs, websites and Twitter feeds).

So, some people aren’t happy with our beliefs and assertions. They don’t want to believe our rigourously-researched reports that we commission from independent sources. Fair enough.

If that’s the case, they should listen instead to Jon Wellinghoff. He’s the chairman of the US’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent and self-funding regulatory agency within the Department of Energy. FERC ‘regulates and oversees energy industries in the economic, environmental, and safety interests of the American public’ and has a vision of ‘abundant, reliable energy in a fair competitive market’.

We think you’ll agree that FERC aren’t a bunch of technophobes who want to send us back to the dark ages. So, make of this what you will…

No new nuclear or coal plants may ever be needed in the United States, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said today.

"We may not need any, ever," Jon Wellinghoff told reporters at a U.S. Energy Association forum.
…

Wellinghoff said renewables like wind, solar and biomass will provide enough energy to meet baseload capacity and future energy demands. Nuclear and coal plants are too expensive, he added.

"I think baseload capacity is going to become an anachronism," he said. "Baseload capacity really used to only mean in an economic dispatch, which you dispatch first, what would be the cheapest thing to do. Well, ultimately wind's going to be the cheapest thing to do, so you'll dispatch that first."

He added, "People talk about, 'Oh, we need baseload.' It's like people saying we need more computing power, we need mainframes. We don't need mainframes, we have distributed computing."

We could have written that ourselves. We wish we had. Meet Jon Wellinghoff, ladies and gentlemen, an energy law specialist of 30 years experience, appointed to FERC by President Bush in 2006 and made its chairman by President Obama in March this year. Worth listening to?

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Earth Times: Five candidates throw hat in ring to lead nuclear watchdog
‘Vienna - A total of five candidates have put themselves foward to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it was announced Monday, as the deadline for nominations drew to a close. With a deadline of midnight on Monday, diplomats said there was little likelihood of a last-minute sixth candidate coming forward.’

Getting used to nuclear power means getting used to some pretty weird things.

It means getting used to thousands and thousands of tonnes of highly dangerous nuclear waste which we can’t safely store, recycle or destroy and which will be with the human race for millions of years to come.

It means getting used to renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes being sidelined and blocked in the face of impending catastrophic climate change.

It means getting used to secrecy and cover up and the exploitation of our fellow man.

It means getting used to lies and propaganda. It means getting used to major energy companies employing spies and hackers to watch those who want to hold them to account.

You and your children can get used to this, but you don’t have to.

(These posters are from Greenpeace Romania’s latest No To Nuclear Energy campaign which has been selected to be part of the 2009 ACT Responsible Expo, premiering in June 2009 in Cannes during the Cannes Lions Festival. Click on the images for larger versions.)

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

AFP: Nuclear solution comes with a huge price tag
‘COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A ghost from the nuclear industry's early years has reappeared. It is not public apprehension about safety or disposal issues this time, but the staggering cost of building nuclear reactors.’

Two breaking stories this morning neatly illustrate the flawed logic which still lurks at the heart of UK energy policy. First up is that German energy utility RWE's bid to build a new nuclear plant near Kirksanton in Cumbria will mean dismantling an existing wind farm on the site. While at the other end of the country, 600 workers at the Vestas Blades wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight could be facing redundancy.

Once again, Gordon Brown's lack of political initiative and vision has come under the spot light. Only a month on from pledging to find ways to help low-carbon manufacturers lead the UK out of recession, it looks like he's already reneging on his green new deal. Vestas, Britain's only wind turbine factory, is facing closure as the government has failed to remove the obstacles blocking faster wind farm development in contrast to booming wind energy sales in China and the US. This lack of support is now all too apparent as hundreds of British jobs could be lost. Last week's budgetpromised some hope, but has offered too little, too late.

Click here to read the rest…

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Scoop: The Victims Of Nuclear Testing Call On France
‘On Monday 27 April 2009, eight Polynesian victims of French nuclear testing will launch a case against France before the Tribunal de Travail (industrial relations court) in Papeete, Tahiti.’

When not indulging in schoolboy fantasies that they’re a bunch of James Bonds and spying on environmental groups across Europe, French energy giant like to indulge in other fantasies. Like stating they 'could' have a new UK nuclear power plant in operation by 2017.

‘It is possible and highly desirable to have new nuclear power stations in operation by the end of 2017,’ said EDF chief executive Vincent de Rivaz. A lot of things are possible and highly desirable but they aren’t very likely. It’s possible and highly desirable that our phone might ring in a second and it’ll be Brad and Angelina asking us to go party with them at Cannes. Likely? Not so much.

‘Rivaz said that he would shift resources to the UK from its Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor construction site in France when work finished.’ Flamanville 3 is of the so-called state of the art third generation EPR design. It’s already woefully behind schedule and the partners in the project have disagreed about when it will actually be ready.

So, even if EDF can get Flamanville completed by 2012/13, can they be expected to get another project of similar complexity completed in five years? They’ll get the thing built without the delays, overspend and incompetence we’ve seen of late? We’re certainly not taking that bet.

Rivaz’s statement also shows us another another fantasy – that of UK prime minister Gordon Brown’s assertion that a British nuclear ‘renaissance’ could create tens of thousands of jobs. We’ve been sceptical about that for a while now and now here’s the proof: Rivaz says ‘he would shift resources’ to the UK from Flamanville 3 when work finished. Are EDF really going to train thousands of British workers? It’s possible but will EDF find it highly desirable?