France Must Improve Nuclear Reactor Safety

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- France will have to improve the safety systems on its fleet of nuclear reactors to help avoid a major incident in the event of a natural disaster.

The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) has given the all clear to the country's 58 nuclear reactors but has been advised by the French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) that safety improvements will have to be carried out to avoid a disaster similar to the one that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, earlier this year.

The IRSN was commissioned by the safety authority to carry out extensive examinations and risk analyses of the safety procedures at all of the reactors, submitting a 500-page report at the end of last week. France is the largest nuclear power nation in Europe with around 78% of its electricity coming from nuclear.

"There is no imminent danger," commented Andre-Claude Lacoste, president of France's Nuclear Safety Authority. "However this is not the end of the safety evaluation process. It's a long process with a very heavy level of investment."

France, like many of Europe's other nuclear nations, committed to testing the safety of its nuclear plants in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. For additional information see March 29, 2011, article - Europe's Nuclear Reactors Face 'Stress Tests'.

The report calls for improvements to cooling functions and electric powering systems, both of which are essential to reactor safety. It calls for reinforced pipe connections to the reactors and separate and protected diesel generators that can withstand violent earthquakes. It also wants control rooms sealed against toxic fumes in the event of a disaster.

The changes being suggested are only at the proposal stage and could take many years and billions of euro to implement. The vast majority of those costs will have to be borne by Electricite de France S.A. (EPA:EDF) (EDF) (Paris, France), which runs the country's nuclear fleet. In related news, EDF could be facing much bigger problems if the leading Socialist party candidate, François Hollande, wins next year's presidential elections. He has pledged to close 24 of the country's oldest reactors by 2025.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.