France and Tunisia signed accords on nuclear cooperation and immigration on Monday, the first day of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's state visit to the North African nation.
The accords were the first in a spate of deals — including a Tunisian airline's possible purchase of more than a dozen Airbus aircraft — aimed at strengthening economic and political ties between France and its former protectorate.
The nuclear industry in Britain is killing billions of fish every year and taking a devastating toll of stocks, an Oxford University academic suggests.
The impact can be so severe in the worst-affected regions of the seas around Britain that death rates are equivalent to half the commercial catch for some species.
Safety investigators uncover cracks in the concrete base and substandard welds. Lack of recent experience in building nuclear plants said to have caused problem.
PARIS (Thomson Financial) - France's nuclear safety authority identified 'shortcomings' during an inspection in March of the Flamanville site where Bouygues is building a new nuclear power plant for EDF, Les Echos reported.
The authority criticised Bouygues for bad preparation of a concreting operation and asked EDF to supervise the work more closely, according to the business daily.
One of the companies competing to build new nuclear reactors in Ontario has run into trouble with regulators in France.
The French nuclear safety watchdog says there are a number of serious infractions in the Areva construction of a reactor in northern France - the same type of reactor it wants to sell to Ontario.
Nuclear reactors of the kind France wants to sell to Britain suffer from "potentially catastrophic" problems, it was claimed yesterday.
News of the structural flaws came days after President Nicolas Sarkozy used a state visit to Britain to boast about his nation's nuclear expertise.
A two-day bilateral summit is to culminate today (27 March) with the signing of a new accord that will see France help the UK develop a new generation of nuclear power stations.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown are to seal the agreement on Thursday at the Emirates Stadium in North London, the home of Arsenal football club.
MADRID, Mar 25 (IPS) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are about to agree on a new generation of nuclear power plants in London this week, and plan to export the technology to the rest of the world, according to unconfirmed reports.
Downing Street has refrained from commenting on news of the deal, which was reported last week by The Guardian, a British newspaper. The move would fly in the face of the opinions of Germany and Spain, which wish to gradually phase out all nuclear plants for safety reasons, and generate electricity from renewable sources instead.
Anti-nuclear campaigners have reacted with dismay to reports that Britain is on the brink of signing a deal with France to construct a new generation of power plants.
Downing Street declined to comment on claims that the agreement would be sealed during the forthcoming state visit to the UK of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
PARIS/MADRID, March 14 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy has persuaded his Spanish counterpart to let EDF take a 15 to 18 percent stake in Spain's Iberdrola in exchange for control of some nuclear power plants in France, ABC newspaper reported.
Citing no sources, ABC said this solution would allow state-controlled EDF to gain a foot in Spain, and let Iberdrola add more nuclear power to its portfolio while Spain keeps the lid on building more nuclear plants at home.
