Wojtek wrote:
> FYI, France
> operates as many if not more nuclear power plants as Japan or the US,
> but
> it has not had a single accident - which indicates that it is possible
> to operate these plants in a safe manner.
>
Really? That "fact" came to you in a seance, perhaps? If you had bothered to check that statement you would have found that there have been a number of French nuclear accidents. One recent report states, in part:
---------------------------------------------------- France reports incidents at 8 nuclear plants
February 22, 2011 by Citizen Carol (Texas Vox -- The Voice of Public Citizen in Texas)
According to the Associated Press, France, the most nuclear-dependent country in the world, with over 75 percent of its electricity coming from nuclear reactors, recently reported incidents at 8 of their 59 reactor units.
French authorities say they are having to replace faulty metal bearings in the emergency power systems of eight nuclear plants due to signs of wear.
At the Tricastin nuclear complex, located 90 miles north of Marseille, all of the emergency diesel generators used as backups for two of the four reactors were equipped with the faulty bearings.
That incident was classified as a level 2 incident, on a scale of zero to seven, with seven being a major disaster. At other plants the same problem was classified at level 1.
To give some perspective to a level 1 incident, in July 2008, thousands of gallons of uranium solution, containing unprocessed uranium, were accidentally released when cleaning and repair work on the containment system for a holding tank caused the tank to not function properly when filled. The faulty containment system allowed 7,925 gallons of uranium solution to leak out of the tank, with 4,755 gallons of the solution spilling onto the ground.
Later testing showed elevated uranium levels in the nearby Gaffière and Lauzon rivers. The liquid contained about 165 pounds of un-enriched uranium which, while only slightly radioactive, is highly toxic as a heavy metal. Ground and surface water tests indicated that levels of radioactivity were 5% higher than the maximum rate allowed.
French authorities have banned the use of water from the Gaffière and Lauzon for drinking and watering of crops. Swimming, water sports and fishing were also banned. This incident has been classified as Level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale .
France is often held up as the poster child for nuclear energy, but the country has had its share of problems with their nuclear plants. Among the problems are included a partial core meltdown in 1980 at the Saint-Laurent Nuclear Power Plant, and the shut down of plants during a summer heatwave in 2003. In spite of heatwave preparedness efforts in Europe, the intense heatwave that swept through Europe in 2009 put a third of France´s nuclear power stations out of action and forced France to buy electricity from England. -----------------------------------
Hey, that's nice. Not only have there been French nuclear accidents, but nuclear energy is unreliable in summer. Fortunately, we're not facing global warming -- ooops, yes, we are. So I guess we'll all have to cross our fingers and hope that the North Atlantic Drift stops, France cools down drastically, and the nuclear plants can keep working! <g>
----------------------------------- Joseph Green jgreen at communistvoice.org