French Nuclear Safety Authority cannot rule out moratorium on Flamanville reactor

[bananas]

http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/01/stories/2011040165361600.htm

French Nuclear Safety Authority cannot rule out moratorium on Flamanville reactor

Vaiju Naravane

NPCIL has entered into framework agreement to purchase six identical reactors for Jaitapur park
ASN has put in place several new security rules on Flamanville EPR nuclear site
It warns EDF that it needs to “seriously” improve maintenance of 58 reactors

Paris: French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) president Andre-Claude Lacoste said on Wednesday that he “could not rule out” a moratorium on the third generation EPR nuclear reactor under construction at Flamanville in Normandy, northern France.

“If the question of a moratorium is raised, and we have raised it, then it will be on the construction of Flamanville 3,” he said. The reactor has cost over € 5 billion to build and has run into delays and cost over-runs. Mr. Lacoste said the reactor, whose engineering works were led by the French electricity giant EDF, was “very compromised.”

<snip>

As far as France's second EPR (1,650 MWe) reactor to be built at Penly is concerned, Mr. Houdre cast doubts on whether the project would ever get off the ground.

<snip>

Leaked documents from the EDF revealed that engineers working on the EPR feared “the possibility” of a “Chernobyl style” meltdown because both the materials and workmanship were substandard.

<snip>