- The shutdown of the last reactor on the night of June 29 sealed its final closure, but questions and disputes remained numerous.
- The closure relieves the antinuclear fighters who have been fighting for over 40 years against this plant, but arouses anger among employees of the plant, subcontractors, elected officials and most of the 2,500 inhabitants of the town.
- The anti-nuclear companies are calling for the abandonment of the technocentre project, better management of radioactive waste still present on the site and a green plan to dismantle the foundations.
Clap end for the dean of French nuclear power plants, located in Fessenheim (Haut-Rhin). If the shutdown of the last reactor on the night of June 29 sealed its final shutdown, questions and disputes remained numerous, particularly among the anti-nuclear companies. No more demonstrations and rallies on Saturdays? Quite the contrary. "The struggle continues because the nuclear issue in France is far from settled and many questions remain in Fessenheim", warns André Hatz, president of Stop Fessenheim.
A closure which “obviously pleases anti-nuclear, French, German or Swiss associations and collectives. As much as it arouses anger among employees of the power plant, subcontractors, elected officials and most of the 2,500 inhabitants of the town. But "it's true, we no longer have to be afraid of a major nuclear accident" in Fessenheim, "says Rémi Verdet, president of Stop transport-stop at nuclear power. And the anti-nuclear forces are already preparing a new wave of protests. What about the fuels that will remain stored in swimming pools for three years on site? Irradiated waste? Opposition to the project of a technocentre, problems with the future of the foundations of the power station on a site located above the groundwater of Alsace…
"The technocentre, a crazy project"
First request, reminds Rémi Verdet, "securing swimming pools, not bunkered" and therefore vulnerable. Next comes the management of “waste, especially steel. "There are 12 steam generators, two tanks and six primary pumps, nearly 4,700 tonnes of more or less radioactive scrap" Another concern, the main one, the technocentre: "A crazy project, in reality it is a chemical industry which is lined with a nuclear industry, a foundry of irradiated metals ”, assures André Hatz. The latter feared that part of the recycled steel would be put back into the industry circuit. From there to "having a pan with radioactive metal" there is only one step according to the antinuclear ...
Another fear raised by the technocentre, "a convergence in Fessenheim of exceptional transport". To make such a structure profitable, the anti-nuclear forces ensure that the site would eventually receive irradiated steel from all over Europe, with the exception of Germany, which refused. All to create 150 jobs, but which could ultimately lead to the loss of many more. The technocentre would act as a “scarecrow office” for the possible area of cross-border economic activity to be created in Fessenheim.
Other requests are in the pipeline, such as the scientific dismantling of reactor n ° 1. "This would make it possible to dissect it and really study the aging of steels while the dismantling of the second reactor could be done at normal speed" propose André Hatz. Finally there is the question of the foundations of the power plant positioned above the water table and "which would be according to the dismantling plan, only filled. Unacceptable ”, anger André Hatz.
Power cuts?
"There is nothing to worry about on this side," says Rémi Verdet. “We are often in overproduction. The electrical network is connected to other power plant networks. »Yes, but is it not very polluting to buy electricity from German coal plants? “To make people believe that because we close Fessenheim we will have to buy electricity from coal-fired power plants in Germany, it's rubbish. They have a lot of renewable energy and contrary to a message often relayed wrongly, Germany is lowering the share of coal. To avoid a problem of peak demand in winter, we should above all stop systematically equipping homes with electric heaters and invest in research, installation and development of renewable energies. "
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