French Nuclear Boss Defends EDF Technology After Report of Flaw

  • Assurance follows letter from CRIIRAD on ‘abnormal vibrations’
  • A Chinese reactor was halted in July following fuel-rod leaks
Photographer: Theo Giacometti/Bloomberg
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Electricite de France SA expressed confidence in its atomic technology after a non-profit group said the company’s flagship reactor design may be flawed.

“French nuclear technology is a very fine technology,” Bernard Fontana, chief executive officer of EDF’s Framatome unit, said on BFM Business television. His comments followed a suggestion by France’s CRIIRAD -- a group that studies radioactivity -- that “abnormal vibrations” of fuel assemblies in a Chinese plant made by Framatome resulted from poor reactor-vessel design.