PARIS (Thomson Financial) - The French nuclear security authority, ASN, has criticised EDF for 'a lack of rigour' in the application of security procedures at its Fessenheim nuclear power plant in north-east France.
In an assessment presented to the press today, the ASN said that 'despite the action initiated (...), the operator (EDF) shows a lack of rigour in the application of procedures.'
By Michael Harrison, Business Editor
Saturday, 24 December 2005
An inquiry was under way last night at the Torness nuclear power station in Scotland after an incident involving fuel rods in one of its reactors.
Anti-nuclear campaigners said the incident was just the latest in a series of problems at the British Energy-owned site and called for the investigation to be wide ranging.
A plan to upgrade two nuclear reactors in Solvakia may force Western governments to stop dithering over nuclear safety in Eastern Europe.
Ever since the reactor at Chernobyl exploded in 1986 spewing radioactivity over more than 20 countries, Europeans have lived in fear of another large-scale nuclear disaster. That fear grew when the Iron Curtain fell, revealing the full extent of the problems with nuclear plants in the former Eastern bloc. It also fuelled a fierce debate: should Soviet-designed reactors be shut down or could they be made 'safe'?
