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Areva, the atomic energy giant 80% owned by the French government, is launching a new international advertising campaign to celebrate its 10th birthday. The 60-second animated film entitled “Energy: One Powerful Story” shows nuclear energy as a vector for human progress since ancient time. A hundred artists worked for months to create it. The goal of Areva is to highlight its commitment to developing innovative and sustainable solutions for clean energy that could play a role for future generations in a carbon-free world.

But this very “green” message, which tries to associate nuclear with clean energy and reprocessing with recycling, eludes the fact that the new developments of the nuclear industry have yet to be proven effective and safe. Unlike other energy sources, nuclear could leave large areas uninhabitable for generations – and that is if there are no accidents. The animated feature film also does not address the growing problem of radioactive nuclear waste disposal that has yet to be solved.

The French company will celebrate its 10th birthday in September 2011. The group was created in 2001 following the merger of Cogema and Framatome but its ancestor, Cogema, was founded in 1976 and has played an important role in the United States since the early 1980s. With approximately 6,000 employees in the U.S. and $2 billion in sales revenue in 2008, Areva Inc. – the U.S. arm of Areva Group – claims to be the leader in the U.S. market for nuclear products and services. It invests millions of dollars in new projects, and its sales revenue has tripled in the last five years.

@Reed : try to make a bill out of that - a good idea.

I posted that last article because it shows what really drives nuclear these days.. "profits".. conglomerates and monopolies such as AREVA. BIG companies created by big names, many of whom have been in big politics and lobbyists all out for mega profits at the expense of safety ...

@elainekirk moneymoneymoney

with the exception of good old fellow Joschka Fischer. he is professor at yale i think now.

@Reed as a german, i am out of that mess :P

elaine I think in part the GOJ and the regulators in that country and utility agencies like TEPCO developed a disconnect over the years, partly due to the continued need for electrical power to fuel society and the industrial machine in japan. We see daily almost how such disconnects have been made. In the USA there have been decisions made behind closed doors on the nuclear direction for the country and more recently how to deal with the stockpiles of weapons grade materials. then come the big huge companies, political dealings and finally the HIRING of AREVA to do what this country could have done alone

Merkel is 10 GW short, thats a lot of power

@Dean : this means nationalizing / socializing power companies.

we have vattenfall running 4 npps. in sweden, where they come from, they did not even get the permission to run a npp. but here, they just do it. without recommendation and experience.

I live relative close to a German NPP and i am happy with knowing that, how many eq's and tsunamis have Germany had so far ? No the solution is not to scrap stuff before you have viable alternatives in production, the solution is to retrofit, inspect and repair. Something alike is happening with fossil fuels, governments trying to change the world and habbits within a 5 year timeframe.

not to forget Oberweser. all toast.

@Edano @WolfDK Aren't the Czechs increasing their nuclear programs in hopes of having to sell Germany power from that 10GW shrtage ?

Nuclear safety agency to become independent according to report for IAEA
mdn.mainichi.jp
"The report, whose details emerged on June 7, points out that the body in charge of nuclear safety straddled several government agencies and when the crisis unfolded, it was unclear where the responsibility for enduring the public's safety lay. The government will submit the report at an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ministerial conference to open in Vienna on June 20.

Under measures outlined in the report, electric power companies will be legally required to take measures to avoid severe nuclear accidents such as those in which reactor cores are damaged. The report concludes that "fundamental revisions to nuclear safety measures are inevitable." "

I think this guy's getting higher-than-usually-report radiation 220 km (135 mi) South of Fukushima, maybe because he measures closer to the ground than most www.youtube.com www.youtube.com ??

@Reed : the bill was elaborated by all parties, including the greens. it is a really big consens.

@Reed i dont know