07/01/2024 – 18:28
Unlike Germany, which deactivated its last reactors in April last year, the country is betting heavily on atomic energy to replace coal and reduce its carbon emissions. France increased the total number of new nuclear plants it plans to build in the coming years from six to 14. years. The information was given by the French Minister of Energy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, in a statement to the newspaper Tribune Dimanche.
The construction of the eight extra reactors, which until now was only treated as an “option” within the government, should be included in a bill to be debated by parliament at the end of January.
Unlike Germany, France is betting heavily on nuclear energy as a way to replace coal plants and reduce its carbon emissions. Paris wants to reduce the weight of fossil fuels in energy consumption, currently at more than 60%, to 40% by 2035.
According to Pannier-Runacher, achieving this goal requires the construction, from 2026, of new plants with a total capacity of 13 gigawatts – equivalent, in the minister's words, to the performance of eight EPR-type reactors. The measure would also be necessary because current reactors would not last forever.
The EPR, a third-generation pressurized water reactor developed by France, was designed to revive nuclear energy and deliver more power with greater safety after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. There are currently three of them in operation around the world – one in Finland and two in China. Construction in Finland has been problematic, however, and projects of the type underway in France and the United Kingdom suffer from delays and significant cost increases.
EU still allows subsidies for nuclear plants
In France, the first EPR reactor, in Flamanville, should be connected to the power grid for the first tests in mid-2024, according to French state energy company EDF. If predictions are confirmed, 17 years will have passed between construction and operation, with construction costs quadrupling in this period, reaching 12.7 billion euros.
The European Union continues to allow state subsidies for nuclear power plants as part of the planned reform of the European electricity market. The German government defended that the measure be reserved exclusively for renewable energy, but ended up defeated. In Germany, the last three nuclear power plants were decommissioned in April 2023.
ra (AFP, Reuters)
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