“France, which gets 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear - TopicsExpress

“France, which gets 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy -- the most in the world -- is seeking the safest option for its mounting stockpiles of highly radioactive and long-life nuclear waste at a manageable cost for operators Electricite de France SA, Areva SA (AREVA) and CEA. The planned repository, half a kilometer, or a third of a mile, underground has provoked noisy protests with the first meeting on public consultations canceled in May. A second is set for June 17. “They can scream all they want,” Christian Bataille, a Socialist lawmaker who has spearheaded the project for almost a quarter century, said in an interview. “In the end, parliament will have the last word.” The installation, known as Cigeo, is being designed to hold French military and civilian atomic waste classified as having intermediate and high levels of radioactivity, some of which can remain dangerous for more than 100,000 years. Cost estimates range from 14 billion euros ($18.5 billion) to 55 billion euros. The French efforts mirror those in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Finland. The U.S. is weighing options after President Barack Obama withdrew support for a facility in the Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The U.K. is asking towns to make proposals for sites. In Germany, which plans to close all reactors by 2022, a repository site in Lower Saxony on which it has spent more than 1 billion euros was put on hold after public opposition. Finland plans to store its most toxic nuclear waste on the island of Olkiluoto.”