フランス、原発の耐用年数を４０年から５０年に延長へ

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス原子力安全局は25日、国内最古級の原子力発電所の耐用年数の規定を、従来の40年から50年に延長することを認めた。（写真は資料写真）
　フランスは電力の７割近くを原子力でまかなっており、原発依存度が世界で最も高い。同国は再生可能エネルギーの活用により原発依存度を２０３５年までに５割に引き下げることを目指し、新たな原子炉の建設を見合わせてきた。
　原子力安全局は、国内に計５６基ある原発のうち、主に１９８０年代に建設された発電量９００メガワットの３２基について、耐用年数を当初の４０年から５０年に延長して、１０年長く稼働させることを認める方針を示した。
　その上で同局は、国が大半の株式を保有し、国内の原発を管理するフランス電力に対し、各原発の安全性確保に必要なあらゆる措置を講じるよう要請した。
　一方で反核団体は、古くからある原発の閉鎖を要求。国際ＮＧＯグリーンピースは、「フランスで現在使用されている原発は、３０～４０年の稼働を想定して建設された。これを超えれば、原子炉は未知の老朽化段階に入る」と警鐘を鳴らした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/26-12:35）

French safety officials on Thursday gave the green light to extend the lifetime of the country's oldest of nuclear power plants as it seeks to boost the share of renewables in its power mix.
Nuclear energy currently provides nearly 70 percent of French electricity, more than in any other country.
France, hoping to reduce that share to 50 percent by 2035 -- a target pushed back from an earlier 2025 date -- with the help of renewables, has been holding off from building new reactors.
The French nuclear safety authority (ASN) said the country's 32 plants with 900 Megawatt capacity, built mostly in the 1980s, would be allowed to operate for another decade, taking their potential lifespan to 50 years from the initially planned 40.
They will therefore not be decommissioned before the late 2020s or even late 2030s, depending on their initial launch date.
The safety of French nuclear plants is checked every decade.
ASN asked state-controlled electricity provider EDF, which manages the country's nuclear plants, to undertake any necessary work to safeguard the stations' security.
The main target was to limit the consequences of any accident, especially any serious accident involving the meltdown of a reactor, ASN's deputy director-general Julien Collet told AFP.
Another objective was to improve the resistance of the plants to outside shocks including earthquakes, floods, extremely hot weather, or a fire in the reactor.
Anti-nuclear campaigners have long demanded the closure of veteran nuclear power stations, and last year obtained the decommissoning of France's oldest plant at Fessenheim in the east of the country.
Active French nuclear power plants were built to operate for 30 or 40 years. Beyond that, nuclear reactors enter an unknown ageing phase, said NGO Greenpeace, calling for more plants to be closed.
ASN president Bernard Doroszczuk told the Ouest France newspaper that there were still weak points in the stations' security equipment, requiring vigilance, but that there had been improvements.