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the request was only accepted by all the partners when the ILL management agreed to perform the renovation within the annual budget, and only asking that the budgets should continue as foreseen, and which was achieved. A sub-committee was created by the Steering Committee to follow the reconstruction very closely. We can then see that these considerations and critical technical studies needed a lot of time. Regarding the restart it
is necessary to remember how things had changed since 1971, when the nuclear industry enjoyed total public support in France. Since then there had been the tragic accident at Chernobyl
which greatly influenced people’s minds. In the 90s there was environmental pressure and some public opinion was becoming reticent towards nuclear power. The safety regulators had insisted on having a French director during this period of reconstruction. They insisted that the decree authorising the restart should be very well-founded, which again necessarily took time. Safety took precedence before satisfying the scientists eager to resume their work.
8.2 The partial withdrawal of the British and the consequences
This major failure of the reactor had a serious consequence. In 1991 Great Britain asked for a renegotiation of the intergovernmental agreement with a view towards reducing its financial share. It had always been hoped that the spirit and letter of this convention would always be honoured for better or for worse. Margaret Thatcher’s general policy of cuts for
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Chapter 8 - The Dark Years