France plans underwater nuclear reactor

FRANCE - Plans to build underwater civilian nuclear reactors are in the works in France, with a prototype expected to be rolled out in 2016, officials said.

DCNS, the French state-controlled naval company, said it will work in partnership with French companies Areva, EDF, and the French Atomic Energy Commission to build small- and medium-sized underwater reactors to provide electricity to consumers on land, Radio France Internationale reported.

The company said its Flexblue project, expected to enter the building phase in 2013, is in response to global energy challenges and renewed interest in nuclear power.

Flexblue "reduces greenhouse gas emissions while conserving fossil fuels," the company said in a statement.

Engineers have been working on plans to create a capsule-shaped reactor that would be moored on the sea floor several miles off the coast, the company said.

DCNS Chief Executive Officer Patrick Boissier told the French publication Usine Nouvelle underwater reactors are safer, and less vulnerable to terrorist attack and natural disasters than those on land.

"The reactor would produce safe, competitive energy, that does not emit any carbon," Boissier said.

Much of France's electricity is from nuclear power.

Related News

elon musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk slams Texas energy agency as unreliable: "not earning that R"

DALLAS - Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday slammed the Texas agency responsible for a statewide blackout that has left millions of people to fend for themselves in a freezing cold winter storm.

Musk tweeted that Texas’ power grid manager, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), is not earning the “R” in the acronym.

Musk moved to Texas from California in December and is building a new Tesla factory in Austin. His critique of the state’s electrical grid operator came after multiple Tesla owners in the state said they had slept in their vehicles to keep warm amid the lingering power…

READ MORE
Alameda County Sheriff's deputy A. Gogna

Victims of California's mega-fire will sue electricity company

READ MORE

solar panel on roof of home

High Natural Gas Prices Make This The Time To Build Back Better - With Clean Electricity

READ MORE

Hundreds of Canadian power crews are heading to Florida

Canadian power crews head to Irma-hit Florida to help restore service

READ MORE

energy storage

E.ON to Commission 2500 Digital Transformer Stations

READ MORE