Présentation des centrales nucléaires

a) First of all, industry is all the activities that generate wealth through the processing of raw materials and exploitation of energy sources. As far as I am concerned, these activities have both advantages and disadvantages.

We can take the example of nuclear power plants which shows that on one side they have an economic benefit on a given territory and on the other hand cause irreversible damage to humans and to the surrounding environment.

By implementing nuclear power plants, the latter will be able to generate significant economic benefits for tens of years. Indeed, for example, the Tricastin central, located in France, is involved in the economic development of the region and departments of the Drôme, Ardèche, Gard and Vaucluse by hiring many people (youth, disabled) but we need also to add contractor companies involved in its maintenance.

Furthermore, nuclear power plants can cause substantial damage to people and surrounding nature as it was the case in Fukushima and Chernobyl. In fact, these accidents cause overexposure of people to radioactivity, which in the long term can cause various diseases. To this is added the contamination of soil, plants, animals and the sea.

The population is therefore right to refuse the opening of industries nearby their homes if it has not been informed in a clear and transparent way and if these new plants spoil the landscape and disturb the people in their every day life.

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b) To begin with, the effort of companies which consists of taking into account the environment is a component of the ethics and corporate social responsibility.

Ethics can be defined as the set of values of a company. The corporate social responsibility can be defined as companies contribution to the stakes of sustainable development.

In my opinion, industrial companies are ready to make efforts towards the environment. Indeed, transforming what may appear to be constraints (environmental regulations or social dialogue) industrial companies can gain many opportunities to improve their performance and therefore their sustainability. To do this, companies need to change their mentality, look to the long term and dialogue with all stakeholders, integral parts of ethics and CSR. The energy savings will naturally result in savings loads. The introduction of recycling policies can also be cost-effective in the long term as a more dynamic human resources policy may result in lasting benefits through greater involvement of employees.

Not to mention consumers: as society evolves, CSR policies become also an argument for differentiation … Industrial companies thus make a real strategic axis and a commercial argument because the CSR is a lever of innovation to improve the environmental performances of products and the sobriety of production sites.

In taking into account the problems related to the environment, industrial companies will enjoy a better brand image, reputation and e-reputation which are fundamental elements in this sector marked by environmental scandals.

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