France’s oldest nuclear power plant, located in the east of the country at Fessenheim, within two kilometres of the country’s border with Germany, was completely shut down last weekend after a leak was discovered in one of its two 900 MW reactors.
The plant’s operator EDF said the leak was found on a pipe leading from the condenser in the engine room, and outside the nuclear compartment. But the Fessenheim plant, opened in 1978 and which stands on a site that is vulnerable to seismic activity and flooding, has been hit by numerous technical incidents over the past decade. Environmentalists have long denounced the dangers of the plant, and President François Hollande has pledged to close it by the end of his term of office in 2017. But this now appears dependent upon the delayed entering into service of a new reactor at another French plant, at Flamanville, on the Channel coast facing Britain.
Environmentalists have warned that the Flamanville site is also vulnerable to flooding in the case of exceptional storm-driven sea tides, like those which in 1999 overwhelmed the Blayais nuclear plant on the estuary of the river Gironde on the Atlantic coast.
France has the highest dependency on nuclear energy of any country in the world, with 75% of power output provided by 19 nuclear plants nationwide (totalling 58 reactors) and the socialist government has announced plans to reduce this dependency to 50% by 2025.
Meanwhile, Jean-Bernard Levy, the chief executive of French utilities giant EDF, the plants’ operator, said in January that he was confident of obtaining authorisation to extend their current 40-year service life of the reactors by up to 20 more years.
Amid recurrent technical incidents at a number of plants (including another on the Channel coast, at Paluel), and damning reports on safety issues, Mediapart’s resident singer and songwriter La Parisienne Libérée took to her piano to sound an alarm - in English - to France’s European neighbours, made all the more pertinent by the events at Fessenheim this week. “Fifty eight reactors, and a billion risk factors, dear neighbours, remember that clouds have no borders”, she warns in her composition, 'Nuclear SOS' (click screen to play).
The video can also be found directly on YouTube by clicking here.
NUCLEAR SOS
Lyrics and music by La Parisienne Libérée
Dear Neighbours, remember
That clouds have no border
Any catastrophe
Cloud also damage your country
Our State for some reason
Is about to will give green lights
For a lifetime extension
On several nuclear sites
Fifty-eight reactors
And a billion risk factors
Dear Neighbours, remember
That clouds have no border
Can you hear this call of distress ?
It’s a Nuclear SOS
My compatriots alas
Because of propaganda
Don’t form the critical mass
To avoid a disaster
No energy transition
Can take place in our country
Due to excessive pression
Of the nuclear industry
Fifty-eight reactors
And a billion risk factors
Dear Neighbours, remember
That clouds have no border
Can you hear this call of distress ?
It’s a Nuclear SOS
Age limit was 30
40 years is too much
50 years is crazy
60 years would be bluff
This criminal decision
Based on the cost argument
Is taken with no discussion
Nor vote in the parliament (bis)
Fifty-eight reactors
And a billion risk factors
Dear Neighbours, remember
That clouds have no border
Can you hear this call of distress ?
It’s a Nuclear SOS
Dear neighbours of Germany
Belgium Spain and Italy
Dear neighbours of Switzerland,
The United Kingdom, Ireland
Dear neighbours of Tunisia,
Portugal, Sweden, Algeria,
Morroco, Denmark, Finland,
Greece, Turkey, Norway, the Netherlands
Please do something to arrest
Pollutions that would be blown
We implore you: please protest
Don’t let France decide alone (bis)
Fifty-eight reactors
And a billion risk factors
Dear Neighbours, remember
That clouds have no border
Can you hear this call of distress ?
It’s a Nuclear SOS
Please do something to arrest
Pollutions that would be blown
We implore you: please protest
Don’t let France decide alone (bis)
French version:
SOS NUCLÉAIRE
Paroles et musique : la Parisienne Libérée
Chers voisins, rappelez-vous
Que les nuages n'ont pas de frontière
S'il y avait une catastrophe ici
Elle pourrait aussi atteindre votre pays
Notre État, pour des raisons qui lui appartiennent
Est sur le point de donner son feu vert
Pour prolonger la durée de vie
De plusieurs centrales nucléaires
Cinquante-huit réacteurs
Et un milliard de facteurs de risque
Chers voisins, rappelez-vous
Que les nuages n'ont pas de frontière
Entendez-vous cet appel au secours?
C'est un SOS nucléaire
Mes compatriotes, hélas
Sous le poids de la propagande
Ne peuvent pas former une masse critique
Suffisante pour éviter le désastre
Aucune transition énergétique
Ne peut se développer dans notre pays
À cause de la pression excessive
Qu'exerce l'industrie nucléaire
Cinquante-huit réacteurs
Et un milliard de facteurs de risque
Chers voisins, rappelez-vous
Que les nuages n'ont pas de frontière
Entendez-vous cet appel au secours?
C'est un SOS nucléaire
La durée de vie prévue était de 30 ans
40 ans c'est beaucoup trop
50 ans c'est de la folie
60 ans ce serait du bluff
Cette décision criminelle
Motivée par des considérations financières
Est prise sans aucune discussion
Ni aucun vote du parlement (bis)
Cinquante-huit réacteurs
Et un milliard de facteurs de risque
Chers voisins, rappelez-vous
Que les nuages n'ont pas de frontière
Entendez-vous cet appel au secours?
C'est un SOS nucléaire
Chers voisins d'Allemagne
Belgique, Espagne et Italie
Chers voisins de Suisse
Du Royaume-Uni, d'Irlande
Chers voisins de Tunisie
Du Portugal, de Suède, d'Algérie
Du Maroc, du Danemark, de Finlande
De Grèce, Turquie, Norvège, des Pays-Bas
S'il vous plaît faites quelque chose pour empêcher
Que de graves pollutions ne se répandent
Nous vous en supplions : protestez
Ne laissez pas la France décider seule (bis)
Cinquante-huit réacteurs
Et un milliard de facteurs de risque
Chers voisins, rappelez-vous
Que les nuages n'ont pas de frontière
Entendez-vous cet appel au secours?
C'est un SOS nucléaire
S'il vous plaît faites quelque chose pour empêcher
Que de graves pollutions ne se répandent
Nous vous en supplions : protestez
Ne laissez pas la France décider seule (bis)
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