The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mandated the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG), established in 1985, to study the Chernobyl accident and make recommendations. The first two reports, INSAG-1 [1] and INSAG-7 [2], clarified the technical and human sequences at the origin of the accident and provided lessons learned. INSAG has published 28 reports, … Continued
The Onagawa nuclear power plant is the closest power plant to the epicenter of the March 11th, 2011 earthquake, just 60 km away and twice as close as the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant. Its reactors are of the same design and technology, although they are newer. Above all, they are operated by a different company. In particular, the operator … Continued
It is sometimes said that nuclear power plants are uncontrollable and are therefore intrinsically incompatible with intermittent renewable production. Some even go so far as to say that attempting modulation with a nuclear reactor threatens its safety. A rare practice on a global scale but common in France While we observe that most nuclear power … Continued
The need to cool nuclear power plants is often presented as an absolute limit preventing any nuclear reactor installation in tropical or arid countries. This misconception is often fueled by the shutdowns of some French nuclear power plants during heatwaves. It is important to bear in mind that these shutdowns are not due to a … Continued