Sortir du nucléaire (France)
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
federation of about 800 anti-nuclear
Anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
groups.
Founded in 1997 as a result of the success of the struggle against the Superphénix
Superphénix
Superphénix or SPX was a nuclear power station on the Rhône River at Creys-Malville in France, close to the border with Switzerland. A fast breeder reactor, it halted electricity production in 1996 and was closed as a commercial plant in 1997....
, the organisation regularly campaigns against the use of nuclear power in France and in the world.
In September 2007, Sortir du nucléaire declined taking part in the talks with the French government, dubbed "Grenelle de l'environnement
Grenelle Environnement
The Grenelle de l'environnement is an open multi-party debate in France that brings together representatives of national and local government and organizations on an equal footing, with goal of unifying a position on a specific theme...
", in which major ecological organisations participated
, because discussions about nuclear energy were forbidden by French president Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
.
March 2007 protests against the EPR
European Pressurized Reactor
The EPR is a third generation pressurized water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome , Electricité de France in France, and Siemens AG in Germany...
plants; Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
, Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, and Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
.
Stop-EPR claimed that a total of over 60,000 people attended the rallies. The news outlet Evening Echo reported that it was a way to get the issue in the eye of candidates in the April-May two-round presidential elections
French presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...
of 2007. The largest crowd was in Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
, close to Flamanville
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
The Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant is located at Flamanville, Manche, France on the Cotentin Peninsula.It houses two pressurized water reactors that produce 1300 MWe each and came into service in 1986 and 1987, respectively. It produced 18.9 TWh in 2005, which amounted to 4% of the electricity...
in Normandy, where preliminary construction on the EPR is underway. Organisers claimed the number of protesters in Rennes was 30,000 to 40,000. Police estimated the crowd at 10,000.
See also
- Anti-nuclear movement
- Anti-nuclear movement in FranceAnti-nuclear movement in FranceIn the 1970s, an anti-nuclear movement in France, consisting of citizens' groups and political action committees, emerged. Between 1975 and 1977, some 175,000 people protested against nuclear power in ten demonstrations....
- Anti-nuclear movement in GermanyAnti-nuclear movement in GermanyThe anti-nuclear movement in Germany has a long history dating back to the early 1970s, when large demonstrations prevented the construction of a nuclear plant at Wyhl. The Whyl protests were an example of a local community challenging the nuclear industry through a strategy of direct action and...
- Nuclear power in FranceNuclear power in FranceNuclear power is the primary source of electric power in France. In 2004, 425.8 TWh out of the country's total production of 540.6 TWh of electricity was from nuclear power , the highest percentage in the world....
- Sortir du nucléaire (Canada)Sortir du nucléaire (Canada)Sortir du Nucléaire or the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout is a coalition of Canadian public interest organizations who have a platform of opposing nuclear power generation. CNP's mandate has been endorsed by over 300 public interest groups from across Canada...
External links
- French web site (in French and English) : www.sortirdunucleaire.org
- Safety of EPR nuclear reactors