French 'Atomic Warriors' just want to sail

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The French team in the America's Cup are unsure what sort of reception to expect when they arrive with their nuclear-sponsored boat.

Defi Areva head Xavier de Lesquen said yesterday that the team would concentrate on sailing and winning races when their boat arrived at the end of August and hoped protesters would stay away.

The team's sponsor, Areva, comprises France's nuclear fuel and power plant industries, embracing the entire power cycle from uranium mining to power-plant decommissioning.

Company spokesman Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier said Areva would be happy to debate with New Zealanders the morals of its $33.7 million sponsorship of the French America's Cup team.

Mr de Lesquen and Mr Saulnier are in Auckland to counter growing opposition to the nuclear-sponsored America's Cup entry, nicknamed the Atomic Warrior.

Anti-nuclear groups in France have been planning non-violent actions to try to scuttle the sponsorship deal and Greenpeace in NZ has promised protests against Areva and any New Zealand company that leases the team facilities.

Mr Saulnier said he understood the sensitivity and history between NZ and France over the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior at the Port of Auckland 17 years ago and French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll, but they had nothing to do with Areva, which was formed only five months ago.

About 40 per cent of Areva's business is in technology and electronics. The company is one of the top 10 in France. It has 50,000 employees worldwide and a turnover of about $20 billion.

Areva is 5.2 per cent owned by the French Government and 79 per cent by the French Atomic Energy Commission, which developed France's nuclear arsenal and monitored nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

Mr Saulnier said 80 per cent of France's power was nuclear energy, which was environmentally friendly and made France the lowest producer of carbon dioxide gas in Europe.

He challenged protesters to a debate on the environmental advantages of nuclear energy instead of focusing on sponsorship of the America's Cup team.

Greenpeace campaigner Bunny McDiarmid said it was true that nuclear power did not produce COinf2 emissions but the company failed to mention the issue of nuclear waste and the environmental dangers it posed.

She accused Areva - "a new name for the same old nuclear companies" - of hijacking the America's Cup to polish its image.

But Dr Ron Smith, director of defence and strategic studies at Waikato University, said in a letter to the Herald that Areva, which also supports nuclear power generation in Northeast Asia, was avoiding the burning of up to 100 million tonnes of oil a year.

He said the company was serious about heading off global warming and should be welcomed to New Zealand.

The anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire is planning meetings next month in the Brittany cities of Vannes and Lorient, where the Defi Areva team are based, to oppose the sponsorship.

Full coverage: Louis Vuitton Cup and America's Cup

Schedule

America's Cup winners since 1851


Team New Zealand news

Who's in, who's out


Challengers news

Challengers profiles


Other news related to the America's Cup

Other yachting news

Peter Blake, 1948-2001

nzherald.co.nz/marine

nzherald.co.nz/travel/nz

nzherald.co.nz coastal weather and tides