New blow for Hinkley Point contractor EDF after French safety checks

(The Guardian, 2 Dec 2016) Safety issues force many reactors offline with warnings of power cuts across France, higher energy prices and a rise in emissions.

The company building the UK’s first new nuclear power station for decades is facing questions over the health of its fleet of French nuclear plants after an investigation which has left the country with the lowest level of nuclear power for 10 years and the prospect of power cuts during a cold snap.

Thirteen of Électricité de France’s (EDF) 58 atomic plants are offline, some due to planned maintenance, but most for safety checks ordered by the regulator over anomalies discovered in reactor parts.

The outages have prompted warnings of potential planned power cuts and pushed up wholesale power prices, boosting coal and gas operators but squeezing small energy suppliers. Carbon emissions will possibly rise too as France, which last year forged a historic climate change deal in Paris , has to import more fossil fuel power.

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The Guardian, 2 Dec 2016: New blow for Hinkley Point contractor EDF after French safety checks