France's Oldest Nuclear Plant To Close This Year (phys.org)

mdsolar writes: France is to close down its oldest nuclear power plant, at the center of a row with neighboring Germany and Switzerland, by the end of this year, a green minister said Sunday. "The timeline is one the president has repeated to me several times, it's 2016," said Emmanuelle Cosse, who was named to President Francois Hollande's cabinet last month, referring to the Fessenheim plant. Cosse was speaking to French media after a row sparked Friday when Germany demanded that France close down Fessenheim following reports that a 2014 incident there was worse than earlier portrayed. France's Nuclear Safety Agency said that safety at the plant was "overall satisfactory" but that the government's energy policy "could lead to different choices" regarding the facility, which is near the German and Swiss borders. It said there was "no need" to shut the plant from a nuclear safety point of view. France has promised to cut reliance on nuclear energy from more than 75 percent to 50 percent by shutting 24 reactors by 2025, while stepping up reliance on renewable energy.

Comments

So....

[johnsmithperson123]

Better titles "France's power becomes less reliable, more expensive", " France now so ruled by the rest of Europe it can't even stand up to Switzerland", and "French president to lose next election, nuclear power plants to be brought back online".

mdsolar's on a roll

[thegarbz]

15 Anti-nuke FUD submissions this week alone.

Do you not have a job or something?

Re:Nukes rule

[K. S. Kyosuke]

If we're looking ahead by more than ten years, it is by no means clear that an EDF-built nuclear plant would generate cheaper electricity than a 2025-market PV installation in southern parts of France. So an economic argument makes perfect sense here.

Re:Nukes rule

[Chas]

if the plant goes Fukushima.

I think the chances of a reactor melting down after losing power due to getting slammed by a tsunami and flooding out due to having an insufficiently high sea wall are pretty slim when they're located in the middle of the French countryside.

I really, REALLY wish people would stop using incidents like Fukushima out of context like this.
It makes the people doing it sound like fucking morons.