Switzerland overtakes nuclear-needy European neighbors Though Austria banned nuclear power plants in 1998, and Germany is phasing them out by 2022, Switzerland leads the way in its comprehensive, progressive, voter-mandated energy plan. The vote on Sunday saw Swiss citizens pass the law called Energy Strategy 2050. If you’ll pardon a digression: Yes, the Swiss vote […]
Bordering countries had recently expressed firm concerns over aging French facilities Tangled up in bureaucracy and mired in controversy, Électricité de France (EDF) has been unable to resolve major hazard issues over several years, and now it has blown up in its face—literally, with respect to the poor souls injured in Thursday’s blast at the […]
On December 21, 2016, The New York Times ran an op-ed piece written by two U.S. senators. A Republican from Tennessee and a Democrat from Rhode Island teamed up to opine on the need to strengthen the nuclear power sector in America. Their pitch centered on the possibility that—as aging nuclear plants close—American’s will have […]
How does a worldwide supplier of reactor parts to nuclear plants decide to cheat on quality? In a previous article here on my ULTIMATE ERROR blog, I wrote about a nearly unfathomable situation in France’s nuclear power program. Critical components purchased by the French from a forge called Le Creusot were found to contain excess […]
Recent tests on components of at least 18 live reactors found risks of major accidents The stalwart environmental defense group Greenpeace probably feels pretty good about itself right now. Specifically, Greenpeace France, which called for investigations of nuclear power plants across the nation – investigations which turned up some harrowing problems. France’s nuclear security agency, […]
The answers – or lack thereof – might surprise you Protecting nuclear power plants from attack or sabotage: “It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it,” right? Anything “nuclear” has little margin for error, though, so is “somebody” a good enough answer to the question, “Who’s responsible for security at that nuclear power […]
Nuclear Nerves Rattle in Europe and Asia Nations bordering Belgium want answers, while China creates national team of nuclear emergency responders We read headlines like these all the time! And we read or hear about stories like the one below… Several troubling reports have surfaced in recent days about political haggling and maneuvering over nuclear […]