More than 20 Greenpeace activists climbed fences to break into an EDF nuclear power plant in southern France and demanded its closure, the environmental campaign group has said.
The activists, dressed in red, broke into the Tricastin plant at dusk on Sunday and unfurled a yellow and black banner on the wall with the words: "Tricastin, nuclear accident – president of the catastrophe?" above a picture of the president, François Hollande.
PARIS, Feb 10 (Reuters) - French weekend prices jumped early on Friday as a second unplanned nuclear outage within 12 hours caused panic in the market about a supply shortage, but prices for next week were steady as warmer weather was expected to ease demand pressure.
French baseload power for Saturday delivery traded nearly twice as high as in the neighbouring German market at 100.00 euros, after EDF's 1,300 Cattenom 2 nuclear reactor went offline unexpectedly overnight, tightening supply margins already under strain from high winter demand.
The decision of France's AREVA to take a EUR400mn charge on its Finnish nuclear reactor project, combined with a planned French nuclear plant shutdown is hurting AREVA's bottom line.
After state-owned AREVA, the world's largest uranium miner, announced last week it would take a 400 million euros (US$491mn) charge due to cost overruns at its Finnish nuclear plant project, Standard & Poor's Monday downgraded the company to a `BBB+' rating, citing continued weakened profitability.
PARIS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Areva plans to speed up its investment in uranium enrichment, Les Echos reported on Thursday, citing senior executives at the French nuclear group. The group has decided to bring forward by three years a plan to build a second uranium enrichment facility at its Tricastin site in France, the paper said, noting other nuclear projects have been thrown into doubt because of the financial crisis.
EDF is hoping to secure a multi-billion euro windfall by extending the lifecycle of its nuclear power stations. This could prove crucial to maintaining its top grade credit rating as it invests billlions in acquisitions and plant renewal.
The energy group this week set out in detail the costs and expected gains from the planned investment in its 58 nuclear power stations that could enable it to run reactors for up to 60 years, against the current lifecycle of 40 years.
PARIS (Reuters) - Tests on water tables under French nuclear sites, after a major uranium leak in the south earlier this year, showed there were no significant environmental or health dangers, a government committee said on Friday.
Plant operator Areva said in July that 30 cubic meters of liquid containing non-enriched uranium was accidentally poured onto the ground and into a river at the Tricastin nuclear site in southeastern France.
PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Unplanned works at the 900-megawatt (MW) nuclear reactor 2 at the troubled Tricastin plant in southeast France will take another few weeks, EDF said on Monday.
An incident occurred at the reactor 2 on Sept. 8 during the refuelling of the reactor, when fuel assemblies got stuck in the pressure vessel.
PARIS, Sept 26 (Reuters) - EDF said on Friday it had restarted its nuclear reactor 4 at the Tricastin plant on Sept. 25 after a 10-week long outage for refuelling and maintenance.
The reactor 2, which stopped on Aug. 30 due to an incident, was still offline.
PARIS, Sept 8 (Reuters) - A security incident has occurred at a French nuclear site already under scrutiny because of a series of safety scares over the summer, France's ASN nuclear safety authority said on Monday.
ASN said two fuel units became snagged in a reactor at Tricastin in southern France on Monday morning when site workers were attempting to remove them during maintenance work.
PARIS, Sept 4 (Reuters) - EDF said on Thursday it had stopped its 900-megawatts nuclear reactor 2 at its Tricastin plant in southeast France for refuelling on Aug. 30.
The reactor 4 at the 3,600-MW plant was halted on July 12 for maintenance.
