India to postpone decision on buying EPR reactors from France

The Hindu
Paris, September 20, 2011

India to postpone decision on buying EPR reactors from France

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Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, conveyed this message to French Industry Minister Eric Besson when the two met during the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) consultations which opened in Vienna. Mr. Besson said: “Dr. Banerjee said India imports only reactors which have been certified by their own authorities. The EPR has already been certified. Now they want the post-Fukushima certification.” However, he added that the Indians had conveyed this message “in a very positive manner.”

Several nuclear contracts around the world have been either frozen, delayed or cancelled as a result of the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, the worst nuclear accident to hit the planet after the Chernobyl explosion of 1986, putting into doubt the much-vaunted “nuclear renaissance.” Germany has chosen to forgo the nuclear option altogether and in France there is talk of reducing the country's dependence on nuclear energy to 50 per cent from the current 75 per cent, by 2025.

The EPR plant under construction at Flamanville (northern France) has seen interminable delays and a massive cost hike. Two persons have died on the construction site and the plant is not expected to go on stream before 2016 at the very least. EDF, the most experienced constructor in the world, has admitted it has not mastered the engineering techniques demanded by the hugely complex and complicated design of the massive 1,650 MWe pressurised water reactor. There is not a single EPR plant operating to date and the Olkiluoto plant in Finland too has seen massive cost overruns and long delays, with the result that the Finns and Areva are locked in a protracted legal battle.

In December 2010 Areva signed a framework agreement with India to build the first of six EPR reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra with an option of four more reactors to follow. But Areva will build only the nuclear island while the turbine island and other installations will have to be built by contractors chosen by the NPCIL. Fears have been expressed that with EDF, the most experienced builder and operator of nuclear reactors in the world unable to get it right in Flamanville, the Indian side may not be able to ensure proper construction and safety. There is also some uncertainty about the central dome of the EPR which is forged by the Japanese. Japan, with its aggressive anti-nuclear stand (especially on proliferation issues) may not agree to the technology transfer to India....

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2468399.ece

Nuclear wasn't a good idea to begin with and TMI, Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi proves that. We're wasting money and precious time with this boondoggle. We can do better and we must do better. All I'm seeing is the people of the world is turning against nuclear energy now that they're seeing what can happen when something does go wrong as your link shows.

The examples of Flamanville and Olkiluoto impact future development just as much as Fukushima. The 4 Horsemen for nuclear are cost, safety, proliferation and waste. The accidents demonstrate the safety failures and the extreme consequences, but that is easy for investors to rationalize. However when the money is at risk, as demonstrated by current failures like Flamanville and Olkiluoto, ieven state level investors pay attention.

Nuclear is a complete and total failure as well as a big lie. It's never going to be safe, its never going to be cheap, the waste will never be cleaned up, whether we're talking uranium or the pie in the sky thorium