areva

A new report out today casts doubt on the ability of the nuclear industry to deliver its promised new reactors.

French companies EDF and Areva, who are at the forefront of the new worldwide reactor design and building programme, have been making serious investments in foreign markets where they hope to build new reactors, including here in the UK. As a consequence they are heavily in debt.

More breaking news on nuclear safety from Nuclear Reaction this morning; we found the Olkiluoto 3 construction site in Finland, where they are building the so-called state of the art European Pressurised nuclear Reactor (EPR), to be unsafe after examining leaked documents from Areva, the French company building it. Olkiluoto 3 is a white elephant whose construction has been mired with 1,500 flaws, is £1.5 billion over budget and is already running 2-3 years late.

A projection near Prague Castle says 'Non merci' to nuclear power © Horejsi/Greenpeace

Prague, that wonderful city admired by horror film makers and stag parties alike, is currently hosting the European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF), a gathering of those involved in shaping nuclear policy across the EU. One of the hot topics at this meeting is safety standards within the nuclear industry and a very scary proposal has been floated to lower standards in many member states.