plants : Reports, news and investigations

MPs vote to cut reliance on the energy source from more than 75 per cent to 50 per cent within a decade and cut carbon emissions.

Energy minister Ségolène Royal says if it costs too much to maintain ageing reactors then 'renewable energy' plants would be better.

Last month, the French nuclear safety authority published a report in which it recognised that the existence of a leukaemia cluster around the nuclear waste reprocessing plant of La Hague, in Normandy, is "possible". While radioprotection experts in France and abroad have long regarded the dangers of low-level radiation as negligible, the study by the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) was highly significant especially because it rings an alarm bell for populations close to every type of nuclear plant. Patricia Brett reports.

The French government has accused the opposition Socialist Party of planning to undermine the nuclear industry in return for Green party support.

plants

French parliament backs nuclear cuts

France mulls cost of keeping older nuclear plants

Unveiling the deadly danger of low-level radiation

Parties clash over future of nuclear power in France