Documents leaked by an inside source at Electricite de France show that the French reactor - the EPR - could explode due to design flaws that could cause a major accident. Beyond Nuclear immediately responded with a press release urging a ban on the EPR in the US where it was originally slated for six sites. Calvert Cliffs in Maryland remains the only candidate still moving forward. More details and links can also be found in the Sortir du nucleaire press release.

Areva and five other nuclear corporations are the founding partners of a new Academy designed to "train young graduates and high potential employees with different backgrounds to become leaders or to prepare them to take broader responsibilities in European nuclear energy corporations and institutions." The European Nuclear Energy Leadership Academy will be based in Germany.

As we report in this week's Medusa, Areva and Électricté de France – both almost entirely government-owned, are squaring off in a new row that is undermining confidence in both companies worldwide. EDF, the electricity group that runs 58 reactors in France, claims that Areva has ceased transportation of irradiated fuels at EDF reactor sites to the Areva reprocessing plant on the Normandy coast. EDF also claims that Areva has blocked the import of uranium, needed to fuel the country’s nuclear power plants. The two companies are apparently at loggerheads over a new one billion dollar Areva contract with EDF to process irradiated fuel. Areva has denied that it has stopped uranium supplies but admits blocking transportation and treatment of irradiated fuel. According to a report in The Times (UK), “Their squabble has been cited as one of the factors behind France’s failure to secure a $42 billion contract to build reactors in Abu Dhabi, a contract that went to South Korea instead as reported in last week’s Medusa. EDF is a partner with Constellation Energy of the U.S. in a plan to build a third (French) reactor at the Calvert Cliffs, MD nuclear power plant site already home to two reactors.

The French oil company, Total, has opted not to invest in Areva after the French nuclear company lost a bid to build two new reactors in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Total’s director general also questioned whether it was possible to make the EPR – Areva’s flagship new reactor – less expensive without compromising safety. “That’s the real question,” he told Reuters news agency. The UAE deal was considered a crown jewel for the struggling Areva whose EPR has been the subject of postponements and cancelations in major markets like the U.S. and China. South Korea won the UAE deal – said to be worth as much as $40 billion with four new reactors planned. It is believed that the recent joint statement by the Finnish, British and French nuclear safety bodies, asking that the EPR's control and safety systems should be changed to avoid both failing at once, contributed to the French loss of the UAE contract.

France must resort to importing electricity during a severe cold snap because 9 of its 58 reactors are shut down for various reasons. This calls into question nuclear power industry claims of being a reliable source of baseload electricity, and further shatters the myth that nuclear power in France operates without a hitch. As the Union of Concerned Scientists reported in its 2006 "Walking a Nuclear Tightrope: Unlearned Lessons of Year-plus Reactor Outages," nuclear power's un-reliability has plagued the U.S. time and time again. In a destabilized climate, such atomic outages will only increase as a safety precaution.