Germany demanded Friday that France close down its oldest nuclear plant, Fessenheim, near the German and Swiss borders — just one of several ageing atomic plants that are unsettling France’s neighbours. German media charged that a 2014 incident at the 1970s-era plant was more grave than earlier reported, with water disabling an electrical control system and forcing operators to launch an emergency reactor shut-down.
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An incident at the Fessenheim nuclear facility in France in 2014 was more serious than previously known. German media reports claim the authorities withheld information detailing the gravity of the situation.
Deutsche Welle 4th March 2016 read more »
All countries that use nuclear power (with the exception of North Korea) have committed themselves to report nuclear incidents and accidents to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Those reports are principally public – the idea is that experts and media can freely inform themselves and openly discuss the gravity and significance of the events. But there are doubts that this information flows as intended – even in western democracies. In the French power plant Fassene (in German: “Fessenheim”), there was an incident on April 9, 2014 in which water damaged part of the reactor protection system. The reactor was shut down and the case reported to the IAEA as a level 1 incident. But the event should have been reported as an incident of the next higher level, according to a report issued Friday by investigative journalists from the German public broadcaster WDR and the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Deutsche Welle 4th March 2016 read more »