Shutdown

The twin-reactor Fessenheim nuclear power plant bordering the Rhine river in eatsern France, commissioned in 1977 and which has since been the subject of numerous safety failures, was placed in total shutdown late on Monday, at the beginning of what will be an 18-year process of dismantlement.

Amazon’s six French warehouses, which employ around 10,000 workers on permanent and interim contracts, have been shut since April 16th after court rulings said the company could only continue to operate if it limits deliveries to a list of essential goods only and carry out an assessment of the health risks to its employees in consultation with French trades unions.

Even as air temperatures fall, shortages and excessive temperatures of river water used to cool reactors are worrying nuclear operators EDF.

Environment minister Nicolas Hulot has announced a plan to shut down 17 out of France's 58 nuclear reactors as part of a pledge to reduce the share of nuclear production of the country's energy from 75 percent to 50 percent by the year 2025, although he did not detail which plants would be partially or totally closed.

New French environment and energy minister Nicolas Hulot, a figurehead of the French Green movement, announced on Monday 'we are going to close some nuclear reactors and it won't be just a symbolic move'.

Ten cemeteries in France, including the D-Day Memorial in Normandy, have been hit by the political impasse in Washington.