The company responsible for building France's first nuclear power station in 21 years has just been forced to shot down five older reactors over safety concerns. These five power plants are subject to emergency testing to ascertain their level of safety.
The newest nuclear power plant costs 18 billion pounds and is one of two it was contracted to build by France. With this recent shutdown of five more reactors, the total number of reactors being examined is 12. Safety officials are seeking signs of weakness in the reactors pressure vessels. The pressure vessels are a key component to housing the reactor.
Any rupture could mean a series of disasters much like the famous event at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. When the reactors at Fukushima were submerged in water due to the tsunami, massive amounts of radiation was leaked into the surrounding area making a dead zone that will remain untouchable for decades to come. France is looking to foresee any future disasters and in hopes of avoiding them and their heightened level of caution is reassuring.
The lack of nuclear power plants running at their full capacity has some alarmed that there might not be enough French electricity the winter season demands. This lack of functioning plants coupled with the safety concerns have not fared well on EDF. 21 of EDF's 58 total reactors are shut down for maintenance. The company is now in debt 37 billion pounds and a spokesman for EDF said they are loosing 1 million pounds a day per reactor that is offline. This is not currently a sustainable business model for nuclear power companies like EDF and they are likely to be in need of a bailout by the French government.
France is taking the better safe than sorry approach and this is how nuclear power should be handled. There is a lot on the line to make the power that generates your computer or charges your phone. Certainly the people of France should rest assured that power will be available but not at the expense of safety.
The spokesman for EDF also stated the reactors currently shut down should be back to operation by the end of the year.
Because that would actually solve problems, you silly, silly goy.
Zachary Wood
Get the fuck out of here you fucking coon.
Charles Evans
...
Leo Davis
But invading muslims apparently not? At leat they're not 'shutting them down'.
Jace Barnes
This is solely to majorly increase the prices for power in Europe. Last week, the price for power reached 1 NOK/kwh, which is like 150% from the day before or some shit here in Norway. All due to the shut down of a nuclear powerplant combined with a dry autumn.
It's a powerplay, nothing else. t. Whofuckknows
Matthew Flores
Coal is cheap, but not without it's problems. Fly ash being the big one, but you can make fly ash into shit like silicon waffers and PV-electric cells pretty easily. I don't have a problem shutting down coal plants as long as they're replaced with an equally cheap alternative source. Otherwise you see the giant clusterfuck we have here in Ontario.
Chase Cox
Hopefully they do lose power and the invaders not used to the winter weather freeze.
Jack Hughes
So do this mean no warmness for the rapefugees?
Eli Jackson
France is still operating it's first commercial reactor. It should be shut down,turned into a museum,and replaced with a nuclear reactor that uses the latest.
Liam Harris
They took that monopoly by force ya dunce.
James Diaz
*turned into a mosque
Easton Morgan
I up voat u! FUKISHIMA NEVAR FORGAT!
Josiah Cooper
In the UK there was a relentless and constant push to get French company EDF to build a new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point. The funding and software for the plant is bizarrely being funded by the Chinese. There was safety fears raised and investigated immediately with no cause for concern being found.
We have one old Nuclear site currently being decommissioned called Sellafield, the cost for decommissioning in 2009 was estimated to be £47bill. But that cost was re-estimated to be £67bill three years later. Since then the cost has risen about £5bill a year. Onsite storage costs around £40mill a year.
For the last few years the government has being trying to find a site where they can dig a massive underground bunker into rock with a facility nearby to turn waste into glass ingots, then encase them in steal and put them in the bunker. The estimated cost of the bunker is unknown as a project like this has never been attempted in the UK, but with the rising cost in minimum wages and fuel for machinery the cost will be into the hundreds of billions of £ over the several years it will take to complete.
On top of that we have several other nuclear power stations that need decommissioning.
Combined the cost is estimated to be £117bill over several decades. But I can't find anyway that says this cost includes inflation so I doubt it will because the government wants the figure to look as low as possible.
On top of that you have the fact that many government projects end up costing double or more.
Elijah Mitchell
that don't exactly explode and make a whole city inhabitable by their whim
Carson Perry
It totally does not have a shutdown button for the Chinese to push as soon as world war 3 starts
Kayden Adams
Nuclear energy is best energy, the problem are enemies using them as weapons, this is why is worse energy ever.
Kayden Cooper
SAGE AND REPORT
Asher Wright
Literally what happens in 3rd worlds that take loans from the IMF or World Bank, they come in to buy up power/water/essentials and drop the quality while raising the price.
This.
Anthony Davis
How?
Jason Gray
With the tanked oil prices it's probably cheaper to just burn some than to operate most nuclear plants Anyways, old ass first/second gen reactors are shit and should had never been built
Old reactors are quite susceptible to failures, like Fukushima, most BWR designs can meltdown easily if their cooling fails, which is usually quite vulnerable
/thread
Based France
Chinks are investing on anything overseas to increase their influence over other nations
