EDF Cattenom convicted of a lack of transparency.
« This is an important victory. (…) In the recent past, we have rarely received such a cheap decision. » This Friday morning, April 25th, Roger Spautz from Greenpeace Luxemburg is very satisfied. The joy follows a judgment of the Strasbourg Administrative Court, which was felled the previous day.
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The French judiciary was right in the first instance of the environmental NGO, which had sued the operator of the Cattenom nuclear power plant. The latter must « transmit the requested documents to the Greenpeace Luxemburg Foundation ». Greenpeace asked this for the first time in January 2023, the judgment says that « »Virgule“Is available.
Greenpeace demands clarity
The legal dispute between Edf and Greenpeace Luxemburg has had its origin in an accumulation of tension corrosions, the French nuclear power plants, including Cattenom, from 2022 and over several months.
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At the Cattenom power plant in the Moselle department, about ten kilometers from the Luxembourg border, 2022 microrises of pipeline elements of the reactor number 3 were found. Exchange work on this reactor and then preventively on the three other production units of the power plant were carried out at short notice.
The spare parts are produced by an Italian company, Tectubi. Its facility is the subject of a visit to the French Authority for Nuclear Security (ASN) in October 2022. In their report, the ASN inspectors find that there are verification gaps in the production process.
Two inquiries rejected by the power plant management
In early 2023, Greenpeace Luxembourg informed about this report to the director of the Cattenom nuclear power plant, Jérôme Le Saint, and asked for certain information about the parts produced in Italy and their installation in Cattenom. Edf refused and referred to the « Secret of the Affair » and the « Secret of the Stratégies industrial », confidentiality categories that are defined by French law.
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As a result, Greenpeace Luxembourg in April 2023 filed a lawsuit for the Commission d’Ccès aux Documents Administratifs (CADA), the independent French authority, which deals with access to such documents. The CADA was right Greenpeace, but Edf continued to refuse to comply with the request.
The case then landed before the Strasbourg Administrative Court: The lawsuit will be submitted in July 2023, the hearing will take place on March 20, 2025.
EDF may make parts of the documents unrecognizable
The court also gives Greenpeace Luxembourg right and convicted EDF for a lack of transparency. The company has two months to make an appeal against the judgment, which has not yet been legally binding. At the time of the publication of this article, “Virgule” was not yet answered by the management as to whether EDF will appeal or not.
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In its judgment, the Strasbourg Administrative Court emphasizes that EDF must transmit the documents requested by Greenpeace « according to the blackening of all information that could affect the business secret within two months of the delivery of this judgment ».
If we ask for details, we won’t get them. And often it is the details that are most important.
Roger Spautz
Greenpeace Luxembourg
This clarification clouds the mood at Roger Spautz, which is too accustomed to get mutilated documents. « Every time we request information from EDF, but also from Orano or Framatomas (companies specializing in the nuclear area, whose customer is Edf, editor’s note), we either do not receive an answer, citing industrialheims or we receive blackened documents and cannot read all information, » he explains.
The Greenpeace campaign manager for nuclear power also points out: « The judgment does not say in which form EDF has to pass on this information. Do you have to answer our letters? Do you have to send us all documents? This is not clear. And if it is again blackened documents, it will be difficult to form an opinion. Then we will clarify this with our lawyers.
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Roger Spautz admits that the communication of EDF is « better than 15 or 20 years ago », but he smiles when it is pointed out that the Cattenom nuclear power plant On his website propagates “constant vigilance in full transparency” and there every month every month Environmental data published. « There is always a dark side, » he points out. I am a member of the local information commission myself: Yes, EDF makes presentations and provides information. But if you ask for details, you don’t get them. And it is often the details that are most important ”.
The article first appeared at Virgule.lu. Translation: Sebastian Offner.
