Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

WAR

France concerned over Iran nuclear deadlock

France said Thursday it was very concerned about Iran's "persistent refusal" to come clean about its nuclear programme, which the West suspects is aimed at producing an atomic bomb.

Published: 14 February 2013 15:18 CET
France concerned over Iran nuclear deadlock
The West is concerned Iran has the capability to build an atomic bomb. Photo: Steve Velo

The comment came after talks with Iran failed yet again to reach a deal on enhanced inspections of Tehran's nuclear programme, two weeks before a major meeting with world powers.

"Iran's persistent refusal to finalise its discussions with the IAEA to be fully transparent about what its nuclear programme is aimed at is very worrying," said French foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief inspector said Thursday after returning from Tehran that he had not succeeded in getting Iran to grant access to sites, scientists and documents the agency believes may have been part of a covert nuclear weapons drive.

Iran says the IAEA's allegations are based on flawed Western and Israeli intelligence — which it has not been allowed to see — and says it has never sought to develop the bomb.

This latest failure comes less than two weeks before talks between Iran and six world powers — the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany — in Almaty, Kazakhstan on February 26.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

Published: 16 February 2024 10:45 CET
France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

SHOW COMMENTS