We would have liked to talk to you about nature, hunters and elections
but we could not resist the call of this heavy industry that the wholeworld envies us: nuclear power. ---- CA of March 2023 addressed the
question of nuclear power in France with, among other things, the merger
project of the ASN (Nuclear Safety Authority, 500 employees under public
law) and the IRSN (Institute of Radioprotection and Safety Nuclear, 1700
employees under private law) project wanted by Macron. He imposed this
idea during a nuclear policy council at the Élysée, held behind closed
doors, in February 2023.
EDF, the majority and all the right-wingers had applauded because
launching the construction of the EPR2, SMRs (Small Modular Reactor,
these disruptive projects carried out by long-toothed start-ups) and
extending the activity of our (very) old nuclear power plants were
exciting political, energy and economic and patriotic priorities.
The bill was adopted on February 13 by the Senate despite opposition
from the IRSN staff union which denounces a law which "will permanently
destabilize the nuclear risk governance system". The merger should be
effective on January 1, 2025. The new organization would take the name
of the Independent Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection
(AISNR).
Why so much haste? This is because with the nuclear acceleration law,
time is running out. When two organizations with different activities,
projects, cultures and statuses are merged, a huge mess occurs which
causes the new organization to regress instead of improving it. It is a
classic of organizational sociology.
To reduce this "transitional period, by nature delicate[which]cannot be
concomitant with the operational phase of the new expected programs..."
it was necessary for everything to be completed as quickly as possible,
which "opens a window for possible reorganization." "relatively narrow
opportunity probably by the end of 2024."[1]
If we translate the parliamentary jargon, for everything to go as
smoothly as possible for the State-EDF, everything must be locked before
the end of the year so that projects can get underway. A "fluidized"
framework with a single contact, ASN++, simplified procedures and
shortened deadlines without internal control or possible dispute, that
is the project. It will still be necessary to explain how EDF and its
service providers will be able to have a single contact when some of the
employees come under the control of the CEA and the Ministry of the
Armed Forces...[2]
As EDF had already anticipated the manufacture of vital parts for the
Penly EPR2 before the end of the public debate (October 2022-February
2023), before the vote on the nuclear recovery law and without informing
the ASN, the operation had to be secured. One shot of ASAP and the
Titanic of nuclear safety sails, everything is extremely simple in
Nucleocracy.
There are a few lumps in the soup. Thus, more than half of the staff of
the IRSN service responsible for "preventing malicious acts and
terrorism in civil nuclear power.» resigned from their post after
learning that the reform would put them directly "at the disposal of the
Ministry of the Armed Forces"[3].
It is certain that with generals and defense secrecy, information and
protection of populations will be in good hands, especially since future
IRSN opinions will no longer be published in real time but over several
weeks, months, years (?) after their realization...
We also see that a khaki and militaristic epidemic is spreading to
so-called civilian nuclear power.
In Cadarache (no military activities), a general replaces the civil
engineer at its head. Same in Saclay. In 2021, "EDF entrusted... Admiral
Jean Casabianca with the general inspection of the safety of its nuclear
sites.»[4]Same at Ourano (formerly Areva). The "interministerial
delegation for the renewal of nuclear power (ie the EPR2)" "is led by
the five-star armaments engineer Joël Barre" and the supervisor of the
new EPR construction sites is Hervé Guillou, ex-boss of Naval Group, the
national company which builds ships for the National Navy.
And, during the nuclear policy council of February 3, 2024, decisions
were taken on the basis of a report written by a "civilian who has long
headed the military applications department of the CEA.», a reliable
guy, that is.
The picture would not be perfect if we forgot that the current Minister
of the Economy has just taken over all energy policy, including nuclear,
into his portfolio. Gone is the ministry of "energy transition". Hello
to nuclear power piloted by the Treasury administration, whose discreet
humanism learned at the ENA is well known.
These two elements clearly show the state's desire to put all internal
disputes under wraps (while waiting to crush external ones?) and to
control the entire nuclear sector without even pretending to play the
democratic fiction card.
At the start of the 21st century we are witnessing the (desperate?)
comeback of the EDF-State and the CEA-State of the 1950s-1990s, to try
to once again impose a program in opacity. gigantic but totally rickety
nuclear power plant (financially, economically, technically and
energetically) to the pigs of citizens. Citizens who we try to frighten,
make insecure, repress and permanently paralyze in the face of what is
taking place.
This authoritarian drift led by elitist micro-social circles marked by a
techno-bureaucratic inter-personality clearly shows that they are the
State! And they are our worst enemies...
NuScale Power is naked!
This is the flagship American company in SMRs (Small Modular Reactors).
This conquering start-up boasts of its formidable achievements which
have not gone beyond the stage of theoretical studies. The only two SMRs
currently operating are demonstrators far away, one in Russia, the other
in China. It occupies, with rather effective storytelling, the media and
financial space of the SMR business stuffed with public funds ($600
million since 2014 and 1.5 billion for its Utah project just for NuScale).
Unfortunately in its frantic race in search of capital it has pushed its
pawns "...to the limits of lies to monopolize financing (the company is
the subject of an investigation after a short sale report alleged that
it had sold 24 reactors to a 'fake client' (a cryptocurrency
company)[5]quite incapable of financing them".
Furthermore, in order to conceal the real operating costs of its
hypothetical SMR, NuScale omitted from its projects, the "...tight
containment structures and reliable...backup safety systems.[the
project]also had only one control room for 12 reactor units[each
producing 60 megawatts of electricity]." The US Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) required a control room for 2 reactors. It also
attempted to "... circumvent critical safety regulations, including
requirements for off-site emergency response plans to protect
neighboring communities.»
A misfortune that never comes alone, its action fell by more than 33% at
the start of 2024, after it was forced to abandon its flagship project,
that of the Utah Association of Municipal Power Systems "from 3.6
billion dollars for 720 megawatts in 2020 to 9.3 billion dollars for 462
MW in 2022." which caused the departure of many Utah municipalities
attracted by this smoky low-cost "decarbonized" energy, but spent from
£58 to £89 per kWh in a year.[6]
French-style SMR
The SMR seems to be in France the Holy Grail of nucleocrats, private or
state. A billion EUR has been allocated to research on these as part of
the France 2030 plan. This is salivating and several projects which have
the common characteristic of their embryonic stage (despite the chatter
which surrounds their "advances") are being launched. the stuffing.
The least bad is NuWard. Bringing together TechnicAtome, the CEA, Naval
Group and EDF. The project is based on "two 170 MW units coupled and
controlled by a single control room" and is based "on feedback from the
Barracuda nuclear attack submarine propulsion project". These are
therefore classic light water reactors. An additional EUR170 million was
allocated to it for research as part of the 2020 recovery plan.
The other projects, "known as 4th generation, characterized by
alternative coolants (liquid metal, gas, molten salts)"[7]are driven by
start-ups that hope to become capitalist "unicorns"[8].
Hexana, Stellaria (both from the CEA), Jimmy Energy, Naarea, Transmutex,
Renaissance Fusion, but also Newcleo, Calogena, Otrera Nuclear Energy,
Blue Capsule claim to sell super-innovative, fast and efficient products.
In reality it is very, very oldschool because the technologies are
extremely reminiscent of the Phénix breeder reactors (shut down), Super
Phenix (abandoned following various accidents) and Astrid (program
stopped by Macron).
And a slight doubt haunts us when we learn that, like Super Phénix, they
will reduce the quantities of radioactive waste by consuming plutonium.
There is already a first small problem. On paper, according to clever
calculations "it is argued that the French project would allow us to
benefit from electricity priced at 120 euros/kWh, much too expensive
therefore..."
To this little nothing is added everything else, like this is clearly
shown by Bernard Laponche who analyzes and criticizes the recent
comments of the director of the ASN in January 2024[9]
SMRs must be subject to the same rules as conventional reactors for
"safety, security and non-proliferation issues ..." even if certain
innovative SMRs "present potentially promising intrinsic safety
characteristics".
Which ones? So-called "passive" security. However, "Talking about
passive safety can be reassuring for the public, but from a
technological or probability point of view, there is no advantage in
itself to passive safety compared to active safety," explains Renaud.
Crassous, the president of Nuward..."[10]If they say so...
"The use of SMR in France would not be of much interest for electricity
production given the importance of the current fleet of EDF power plants
and the announced projects.» For EDF the hope is exports with all the
risks of global nuclear proliferation AND the domestic market because
"SMRs could be very useful for the production of heat or steam for
process industries (paper industry, agri-food industry). , chemical,
etc.)" Problem: "The SMR reactor would then have to be located very
close to the industrial installation or even, according to ASN, inside
this installation.» This would make these installations intrinsically
doubly dangerous because "we cannot admit the presence of a basic
nuclear installation, containing highly radioactive materials within a
classic industrial installation, of the ICPE type in which a serious
accident situation (AZF , Lubrizol) could damage the SMR unit and turn
the accident into a disaster.»
To be profitable, the SMR sector must be industrialized, standardized
and produce a lot. Hundreds of private clients are needed, scattered
throughout the country. However, "ASN and IRSN pay very close attention
to "external attacks" of natural or malicious origin. What happens to
these concerns... on locations... whose location was chosen without any
concern for nuclear safety and security?»
So-called innovative reactors pose lots of still unknown problems. What
will their behavior be under normal conditions, or in the event of an
accident?
There is no serious information on the real costs of this future sector,
whether for design, construction or operation (they will already be more
labor intensive than conventional power plants), fuels (manufacture and
reprocessing), as well as dismantling and waste management.
It's simple, with the SMR we return to the golden age of French
nucleocracy where all these questions had been hidden and denied.
Last worrying element: the appearance of new private players "very
ambitious, who want things to go quickly", to the point of worrying the
ASN. "We have before us sellers who do not always have sufficient
technological maturity and who do not see the subject globally," he
explained. Our interlocutors very rarely have in mind what is linked to
the fuel cycle: often, they present to us projects with fuels that do
not even exist, which are at an extremely high level of enrichment and
could pose problems regarding proliferation. And they don't worry about
waste.»(See note 10)
The ultimately very old Presidential Start-up Nation unashamedly
reconnects with the main elements of the very old original criminal
cretinism of the French nuclear program of the 70s. They take all the
elements in rapid succession to put in place a system that is as - or
even more - dangerous which will add to the dangers of the present. This
is based on the irresponsibility, the greed, the arrogance of the new
capitalism of start-ups who, with their well-trimmed beards, their
tight-fitting pants and shirts, have only one motto: "take the sorrel
and get out."
By the way
Since Saturday February 17, a major fire has ravaged the depot of Snam
(New Metal Refining Company) specializing in the recycling of lithium
batteries in Viviez, near Decazeville (Aveyron). 900 tons of batteries
burned, exploded and released highly toxic fumes into the surrounding area.
It is likely to last a good while, despite the reassuring speeches from
officials. However, since the fire a year ago at a Bolloré Logistics
battery site in Grand-Couronne, these calming speeches are far from
reassuring local residents.[11]
Rook and Eugene the Jeep
Notes
1 - Nice "Window of Opportunity" for the nuclear mess. JL P. Le Canard
Enchaîné of 08/09/2023. This is a quote from the report of the
Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological
Choices on nuclear safety.
2 - Listening to "What governance for French nuclear safety?"» in the
program "The telephone rings" on Friday February 16 (France Inter) is
very instructive.
3 - Desertion in the nuclear sector. Hervé Liffran. Le Canard Enchaîné
of 02/07/2024
4 - The military takeover bid. Le Canard Enchaîné of 01/03/2023
5 - The Race for SMRs. homonuclearus.fr from 04/27/2021. Also read:
NuScale Power ($SMR): A Fake Customer and a Major Contract in Peril Cast
Doubt on NuScale's viability. Iceberg Research from 10/19/2023
6 - Coalition's nuclear SMR poster boy cancels flagship project due to
soaring costs. Renew Economy from 02/17/2024. See also: "Decryption: the
Nuscale SMR project in Idaho canceled", hilarious article from the SFEN,
a nuclearist sect fed by EDF and Ourano.
7 - The small SMR atomic reactor is the dream of nuclear scientists.
Émilie Massemin. Reporterre from 05/04/2021
8 - In disruptive-entrepreneurial newspeak, these are start-ups
exceeding $1 billion in capitalization and not listed on the stock
exchange. It's the financialized version of the fable of the frog who
wants to be bigger than the ox.
9 - The dangerous craze for SMRs. Bernard Laponche. Global Chance.
02/15/2024
10 - Nuclear: with innovative small reactor projects, new challenges for
safety. Perrine Mouterde. Le Monde from 07-02-2024
11- Fire at a battery factory: the impossible return to normal life for
local residents. Report from 02/16/2024
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4115
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