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Pollution de l'air: la France plutôt épargnée grâce au nucléaire. Par deedoff dans Divers le 29 Novembre 2011 à 17:32 Connaissez-vous Belchatów ? La fierté de cette ville de Pologne, à 160 kilomètres de Varsovie, ce sont ses équipes de football et de volley. Mais la commune abrite aussi une énorme centrale électrique qui brûle du lignite, ce « mauvais charbon » très courant à l'Est. C'est la plus grande centrale thermique d'Europe et l'usine la plus polluante de tout le continent, tous secteurs confondus, selon un rapport publié hier par l'Agence européenne pour l'environnement. Afin de la rendre plus propre, Alstom doit moderniser certaines installations et Bruxelles subventionne sur place un projet de capture et de stockage du carbone.

Mais, en attendant, la pollution atmosphérique entraînée par cette centrale de PGE, l'équivalent polonais d'EDF, coûte entre 1,5 à 2,5 milliards d'euros chaque année, à travers ses effets sur la santé et l'environnement, indique le rapport. Des usines de ce type, l'Union européenne en compte des dizaines. Source. Les centrales nucléaires suisses à l'épreuve du "stress tests" > Nucléaire - Enerzine.com | Planete DDurable. Japan - New Limits on Reactors. Nucléaire : c'est reparti pour 20 ans - Climat. Les investissements de près de 50 milliards d'euros prévus pour le nucléaire paraissent exorbitants. Le sont-ils vraiment quand il s'agit en fait de prolonger de 20 ans l'énorme outil de production d'électricité qu'est le parc français ?

Trois questions à Francis Sorin, porte-parole de la Société française de l'énergie nucéaire (SFEN) Comment analysez vous le rapport que vient de présenter M. Claude Lacoste, le président de l'ASN ? Il y a deux enseignements fondamentaux dans le rapport publié cette semaine par l'Autorité de sûreté nucléaire. - D'abord, il ne préconise aucune fermeture de centrale, car il juge que la sûreté de notre secteur nucléaire en France est satisfaisante. - Ensuite, les investissements demandés par l'ASN, s'ajoutant à d'autres déjà prévus, vont permettre de prolonger de 20 ans le grand outil électrogène qui assure 75% de la production électrique française. Précisons les choses. Le parc actuel de centrales est presque amorti.

On est dans le contexte de Fuskushima. Seismic Expert Explains Work in U.S. Nuclear Industry, Lessons From Japan. Duke Energy's Seismic Qualification Expert John Richards John Richards has worked for Duke Energy (formerly Duke Power) since receiving his master’s in civil engineering from Virginia Tech in 1982. The majority of his 29 years in the nuclear energy industry have been dedicated to the seismic qualification field. Seismic qualification verifies that the equipment vital to safely shutting down a nuclear energy facility can safely operate during and/or after an earthquake.

All U.S. nuclear energy facilities have specific seismic protection standards based on the historical earthquake activity in that area, plus an additional margin of safety. Q: What are your primary responsibilities at Duke Energy? Richards: I spent much of my career as a principal engineer, where I performed all aspects of seismic qualification activities for electrical equipment at Duke Energy’s three nuclear power plants. Q: Why do you enjoy working in the nuclear industry?

2011: The Year in Review. Abandon du nucléaire en Allemagne : déjà 20000 postes supprimés. Angela Merkel, pour pouvoir se faire réélire dans un pays à forte imprégnation écologique, a finalement décidé de poursuivre sur la voie de l'abandon du nucléaire tracée par ses prédécesseurs sociaux-démocrates, alors que l'on aurait pu penser, sur la base du début de sa législature, qu'elle allait au contraire le relancer.

Entre temps, bien sur, il y a eu la catastrophe de Fukushima au Japon qui a conforté les états d'esprit dans leur conviction antinucléaire. Ainsi donc, avant la fin de l'année 2011, les Sept centrales nucléaires les plus anciennes du pays seront définitivement fermées.Une telle décision pourtant ne manquera pas d'avoir des effets sur les sociétés exploitantes de ces centrales, sur leurs sous-traitants et sur les industries connexes de leur exploitation. C'est ainsi que parmi les énergéticiens allemands, deux exploitants des centrales promises à la fermeture ont annoncé des plans de restructuration sévères. Toutes ces annonces sont liées aux fermetures déjà décidées.

#Nuclear #Nucleaire news. La sortie du nucléaire en Allemagne connaît des ratés. Appel à l'électricité autrichienne, industriels se plaignant de coupures de courant, éoliennes au chômage technique... L'abandon du nucléaire et le passage aux énergies vertes en Allemagne ne vont pas sans heurts. En dépit d'un hiver clément, la première économie européenne, qui a décidé en mars d'arrêter immédiatement ses 8 plus vieux réacteurs nucléaires et de condamner les 9 autres d'ici la fin 2022, a eu besoin début décembre de solliciter en urgence des centrales autrichiennes à gaz et à fioul. Le 8 et 9 décembre, les centrales de réserve en Autriche ont été mises à contribution, a dit jeudi à l'AFP un porte-parole de l'Agence fédérale des réseaux, confirmant des informations du quotidien Die Welt.

Le gestionnaire de lignes électriques Tennet, qui couvre une large bande de territoire traversant l'Allemagne du nord au sud, a aussi confirmé à l'AFP avoir pris cette mesure par précaution, selon une porte-parole. Premier constat: elle dépend davantage de l'étranger. Source. Signs a $500-Million Integrated Fuel Supply Contract with Xcel Energy. January 04, 2012 AREVA has signed a unique integrated fuel and related services contract with Xcel Energy* in the United States to supply the Monticello nuclear power plant located in the state of Minnesota. The approximately $500-million contract covers uranium, conversion, enrichment, fuel design and fabrication, and related engineering services. It is the first of a kind awarded by a nuclear utility to a fuel supplier in the country in several decades. Under the agreement, AREVA will provide six fuel reloads which correponds to a decade of fuel supply, with deliveries beginning in 2015.

The contract includes transition of the Monticello plant to use AREVA’s innovative ATRIUMTM 10XM boiling water reactor fuel. This will be the first time that Xcel Energy will use AREVA fuel in its plants. Luc Oursel, AREVA CEO, said: “AREVA is very pleased with the trust placed in us by Xcel Energy. UPDATE 3-French nuclear plants told to prepare for disasters. Les centrales nucléaires belges, toujours bonnes à l'emploi. Les centrales nucléaires belges sont capables de résister à des évènements extrêmes, comme des tremblements de terre ou encore des inondations. Comme indique la RTBF sur foi du rapport final, déposé le 31 décembre dernier, par l'Agence Fédérale de Contrôle Nucléaire sur les "stress tests" lancés suite à la catastrophe de Fukushima, certaines d'entre elles devront cependant être améliorées sur divers points afin d'éviter les mauvaises surprises.

D'après la RTBF, l'Agence fédérale belge de contrôle nucléaire pense que les ingénieurs d'Electrabel ont correctement suivi le schéma d'analyse requis au niveau européen et que les améliorations qu'ils proposent devraient s'avérer suffisantes, à Doel comme à Tihange, afin d'assurer une marge de sûreté suffisante face aux événements extrêmes. A Tihange, il faudra mieux isoler tout le site du danger d'inondation. Le site de Doel aussi devra également ètre amélioré. L'Agence propose également la liste d'une série d'adaptations supplémentaires. Nucléaire/ASN: Fillon s'engage. Will the N-power industry regain public trust? - Forbes India News.

India is experiencing, for the first time, what many other countries have experienced for years - a demonstration of how easy it is for anti-nuclear activists to rouse public opinion to fever pitch by playing on the mysteries of the atom and the nature of radiation. Nothing has actually occurred in India to justify such public concern. But Fukushima has created just enough confusion for agitators to persuade people in at least this one locality (Kudankulam) that nuclear power poses a unique and enormous threat to their health and environment. ALSO SEE Six Forbes India calls in 2011 that were right This kind of misperception is wholly out of proportion to reality, and must be challenged because those who are propagating it are actually undermining the public interest.

Fukushima has created enough confusion for anti-nuclear power agitators to persuade people against it. The only answer is education. ALSO SEE 11 Startups To watch In 2012 ALSO SEE Will the E-Commerce Bubble Burst in 2012? Bourse en ligne : Information boursiere, Economie, Finance, Bourse de paris - Cerclefinance. La vague verte. Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant now more stable. Iwaki, Japan -- Fukushima was just emerging from the snows of winter when the disaster hit - a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the strongest in Japan's recorded history, followed by a tsunami.

The wall of water destroyed much of the northeastern coast on March 11. In the northeast region of Fukushima, a different disaster was brewing: Three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant were melting down, irreparably damaged by the super tremor. Now, as the snows are beginning to fall again, the government has said the plant has attained a level of stability it is calling a "cold shutdown. " As many as 3,000 workers - plumbers, engineers, technicians - stream into the facility each day. The tsunami's destruction is still visible. In the ghost towns around Fukushima Dai-ichi, vines have overtaken streets, feral cows and ownerless dogs roam the fields. The tens of thousands of people who once lived around the plant have fled. All told, decommissioning the plant will probably take 40 years. Barnett Shale: Committee's report slams response to Japan's nuclear disaster at Fukushima power plant.

IAEA Chief Predicts Number of Nuclear Power Stations will triple by 2030. TOKYO –The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano delivered a speech December 19 in Tokyo and presented a forecast that the number of nuclear power plants would increase by 90 to 350 units in the world between now and 2030. The figure was estimated by IAEA following the accident at the Fukushima I nuclear power station operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. Amano said, “While the rate of increase will be smaller than that prior to the accident, we still expect a substantial increase.”

Amano pointed out, “Except a fraction of European nations, many countries are still keen to use nuclear power while strengthening its safety.” He reiterated his view by saying, “The perception currently dominant in the world is that nuclear power continues to be a necessity” from the perspective of mitigating global warming and ensuring energy security. Source: The Denki Shimbun Related articles. Smoking gun – German president of Environmental Protection Agency touts natural gas instead of nuclear | Atomic Insights. An article in The Guardian titled UK’s faith in nuclear power threatens renewables, says German energy expert is full of evidence of the alliance between natural gas salesmen and the advocates of unreliable sources of energy like wind and solar in an effort to discourage the use of nuclear energy for economic, market-based reasons.

Jochen Flasbarth, identified as “climate advisor to the German government and Federal Environment Agency president” made the following statement: We are not missionaries, and every country will have to find its own way in energy policy, but it is obvious that nuclear plants are too inflexible and cannot sufficiently respond to variations in wind or solar generation, only gas [power stations] do.

(Emphasis added.) The notion that power plants relying on uranium fission cannot respond to load changes is absurd. Here is another piece of evidence for my assertion that Flasbarth is, in effect, a natural gas salesman. Power source life-cycle emissions. Mes quatre questions en réponse à Eric Besson. Les récentes attaques du ministre Besson sur ma supposée incompétence en matière de nucléaire relèvent du domaine du dérisoire.

Cependant, une telle charge donne un aperçu de la difficulté à obtenir un débat public raisonnable sur la sortie du nucléaire. La pédagogie de la réforme étant métier de Sisyphe, qu’il me soit ici permis, au risque de me répéter, de répondre aux fausses assertions des partisans du statu quo atomique. 1 Pourquoi vouloir continuer à gaspiller notre argent et notre énergie ? Certains se demandent combien va coûter la sortie du nucléaire. Mais la vraie question c’est : combien coûterait le scénario catastrophe de poursuite et renouvellement du parc nucléaire ? Environ 470 milliards d’investissements selon des experts indépendants. Un plan qui repose sur deux piliers : les économies d’énergie, le développement des énergies renouvelables. 2 Pourquoi laisser nos citoyens démunis face à l’explosion de leurs factures ?

L’électricité nucléaire coûte donc cher. Fessenheim nuclear closure would hurt French power supply: minister. London (Platts)--22Nov2011/537 am EST/1037 GMT The closure of France's oldest nuclear power plant at Fessenheim would threaten the country's security of supply, energy minister Eric Besson said late Monday. Speaking after the first winter meeting of the energy ministry's committee to monitor the electricity supply-demand balance, Besson said security of supply in France depended "above all" on the preservation of the country's nuclear base. "In the very short term, measures such as the closure of the Fessenheim plant would be extremely prejudicial to the electric security of our country," Besson said in a statement. Article continues below... The minister's comments come as the political debate over nuclear intensifies. France's Green party Europe Ecologie Les Verts Saturday ratified a pre-election pact with the Socialist party that would implement the closure of 24 of France's 58 nuclear reactors by 2025 if the left wins the presidential elections in spring next year.

German minister wants new fossil-fuel plants at old nuclear reactor sites - Coal. London (Platts)--17Nov2011/746 am EST/1246 GMT Germany's minister for the economy, Philipp Roesler, said he envisages new fossil-fuel power plants at the sites of decommissioned old nuclear power facilities, as the country needs to fill the gap left following its decision to phase out nuclear power generation by 2022. "All the necessary grid connections are already there," Roesler, who is also vice-chancellor, said Wednesday during a visit to the European Energy Exchange in Leipzig.

The market will decide whether the new plants should be coal and gas-fired plants, he added, according to a report by state broadcaster ARD. Article continues below... According to the ministry, new fossil-fueled power plants with a capacity of 10 GW are currently under construction and will come online by 2013. However, Germany needs another 10 GW of new flexible power plant capacity by 2020 to satisfy demand, the ministry estimates. Germany may get help from Russia in financing some of the new plant capacity.

TEPCO’s Investigation on the Yunotake Fault. Objective We have confirmed that some normal earthquake fault has emerged along the Yunotake Fault by the earthquake (M7.0) which occurred on April 11th on Hama-dori in Fukushima Prefecture, which we did not think need to be considered as active faults in terms of the aseismic design. Based on this, in order to check whether there have been activities of Yunotake Fault after the Late Pleistocene (after approximately 120,000 ~ 130,000 years ago), we have been Conducting boring and trench investigations around the fault Status of investigation (quick report) In the past we did not consider Yunotake Fault to be active fault that needs to be taken into account in terms of aseismic design based on the condition of the surface of the grand and the evaluation on fault activities, as it is far from the nuclear power plant sites (approximately 50 km from Fukushima Daiichi and approximately 40 km from Fukushima Daini) and its impact will be small in terms of fault length.

See full report here. Nuclear a pawn in Belgian politics. Energy Policy: Facts Must Prevail Over Dogma. Rocard : "Vouloir attenter au nucléaire est une folie" E.ON to Sue German Government on Nuclear Exit. Warsaw Business Journal - Online Portal - wbj.pl. The True Cost of Coal. Boost Safety at Nuclear Plant, Build Tsunami Wall. The Quest — By Daniel Yergin — Book Review. Civil disorder and nuclear power. Iberdrola, GDF to pursue UK nuclear venture. Nuclear pull-out to cost Germany 250 billion euros: study. Nucléaire: Paris plaide pour une généralisation des tests mondiaux. Spain nuclear plants all pass stress tests -CSN. Greenwashing after the Phase-Out: German 'Energy Revolution' Depends on Nuclear Imports - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International. Finland's Nuclear Waste Solution. Nuclear power still gaining public support. China's Upcoming Nuclear Power Boom | Alternative Energy.

Radiation Fears Strike Again: The culprit? Bad Math. | TalkNuclear. German regulator says nuclear reserve capacity not needed. Fillon Says France Wants Nuclear Crisis Management Center. Eric Besson constate en Suède un consensus sur la place du nucléaire. Germany Crafts Its Nuclear Power Exit Strategy. Latest News. Ipsos-global-advisor-nuclear-power-june-2011.

How Merkel Decided to End Nuclear Power. South Korea's Bid to Build Nuclear Plant in Turkey Resurrected. How Merkel Decided to End Nuclear Power. First phase of Jaitapur nuclear project may be delayed by 1 year. How Merkel Decided to End Nuclear Power. RWE Hit by German Nuclear Fallout. Hardtalk - Lord Hutton: Fukushima 'changed the game' for nuclear. China's 14th Nuclear Power Reactor Enters Commercial Operations. TEPCO to begin building cover over Fukushima reactor Wed. Environmentalists file multiple challenges to US NRC reactor licensing. New nuclear safety agency must be independent, have real ability to manage crises. Japan to use extra 230,000 b/d oil for power in 2011: IEA. Ling Ao Unit 4 nuclear power plant enters commercial operation | Power generation | Alstom. Welcome | Energy Products & Services, Oil, Coal Insight, Natural Gas Shipping, Electric Power Methodology Analysis, Metals, Petrochemical, Reference - Platts Video.

China's Nuclear Power Plans Unfazed by Fukushima Disaster. Dayawan Becomes China's Largest Nuclear Power Base. Greens must not prioritise renewables over climate change | George Monbiot and Chris Goodall | Environment. EDF Energy Restarts UK Torness 1 Nuclear Reactor. Hutton fears nuclear industry has lost confidence of the public - Home News, UK.