France may have to examine the consequences of its commitment to nuclear power, responsible for generation of more than 80 per cent of the nation’s electricity, according to the government’s environment minister. The claim comes as estimates suggest a huge cost for decommissioning of the Super-phenix fast breeder project near Lyon.
The cost of decommissioning the experimental reactor was recently put by the government at $1.76 billion but environment minister Dominique Voynet, the sole Green Party representative in the government, has since suggested that it could cost as much to decommission as it did to construct, around $4.3 billion.
Voynet has suggested that France may have to reconsider its dependence on nuclear power. The country’s 50 nuclear power plants will have to be decommissioned within the next 15 years, she claimed.
Superphenix, which opened in 1985, was an ambitious project which never fulfilled its dream.
It was eventually shut down after problems with the liquid sodium cooling system.
