Nuclear power plants and terrorism. Greenpeace's “unpublishable” report
Energy — di Andrea Barolini
A Greenpeace report on safety at French nuclear power plants was deemed so alarming that it was published only in a “light” version.
Nuclear power plants and terrorism. Greenpeace's “unpublishable” report
A Greenpeace report on safety at French nuclear power plants was deemed so alarming that it was published only in a “light” version.
The conclusions of a report commissioned by Greenpeace France from a group of nuclear security and terrorism experts are so alarming that they have led the environmental organisation to refrain from publishing them in full. The daily Le Parisien reports this, explaining that the non-governmental organisation's director general, Jean-François Julliard, handed out only seven complete copies of the document to as many senior officials at French institutions directly involved in overseeing the country's nuclear fleet: the Nuclear Safety Authority (Asn), the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (Irsn) and the Special Military Command for Nuclear Security (Cossen).
"Better not to give ideas to potential wrongdoers"
The document was drawn up by seven experts (three French, one German, two British and one American) and aims — Greenpeace stresses — "to identify gaps in procedures and systems, sounding the alarm to public authorities and to Edf". The latter is the public company that operates the 19 nuclear power plants in France. According to Le Parisien, "it was decided to remove the most sensitive information from the publicly released text". According to the Huffington Post, the organisation's nuclear campaign coordinator, Yannick Rousselet, explained the decision by pointing out that "our goal is to sound the alarm, not to give ideas to potential wrongdoers".
Je viens de remettre officiellement aux autorités compétentes notre rapport sur les failles dans la sécurité de nos centrales nucléaires
Following the 2015 attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan in Paris, as well as others that struck several cities (such as Nice and, more recently, Marseille), the question of nuclear plant security has been raised in France, though not particularly debated. It is clear to everyone, however, that a hypothetical attack on a power plant could have devastating consequences not only for the European nation but for the whole of the Old Continent.
Making France's nuclear power plants safe would cost between 140 and 222 billion euros
According to the experts who authored the study, there exists "a historic deficit in infrastructure protection", given that the systems "were designed at a time when the risks were significantly different from today". Of particular concern are the cooling pools. While the buildings housing the reactors are protected by reinforced barriers, the spent fuel reserves are easily accessible. "And yet — Greenpeace explains — these are structures that contain the majority of the radioactive elements at each plant".
"Les installations nucléaires ont été conçues à une époque où les menaces étaient très différentes d'ajd." — @YvesMarignac #RisqueNucleaire
It would therefore be necessary to proceed with securing these pools. But at what cost? According to the environmental organisation, averting possible terrorist attacks on the 62 reserves, together with the other structures requiring reinforcement around the 58 active reactors in France, would require "between 140 and 222 billion euros". An enormous sum. "The silence surrounding the risks linked to nuclear power plants must be broken," Rousselet added. "Edf, which manages the sites, cannot ignore the situation".