**On a trip to Belfort on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce the construction of more than six EPR-type reactors. That is to say, to go beyond the working scenario entrusted to EDF to renew the current fleet of reactors.**
During his five-year term, Emmanuel Macron has constantly blown hot and cold on nuclear energy, on the one hand putting off the deadline for reducing the share of nuclear power in the French electricity mix and confirming, on the other, the closure of the Fessenheim plant in Alsace. But in the home stretch of his term, before the presidential election, he is changing gears.
Expected in Belfort on Thursday, March 10, to announce his plan to revive the nuclear industry, the head of state is expected to opt for an outright revival of atomic energy. These announcements are of course subject to the outcome of the presidential election.
“Emmanuel Macron will confirm the construction of EPRs and could go beyond six,” says a source close to the file, who specifies that these construction starts must be announced both for the short term and for the medium, long term.
**Ambitious scenarios**
In other words, the working scenario entrusted to EDF, which would consist of building only six EPR-type reactors by 2045, and eight by 2050, would no longer be entirely relevant. “We are going to face massive electrification needs, we have to push all sources of electrification”, pleads another source. In concrete terms, the head of state could outline an energy future similar to the two ambitious scenarios in the construction of new nuclear reactors described by the grid operator RTE, in its study detailing possible paths to carbon neutrality in 2050, entitled “Energy Futures 2050.
**Two plans on the table**
The first (N2) is based on the launch of an “ambitious” and “rapid” program of new reactor construction, with one pair every three years starting in 2035, to reach 14 new EPR reactors by 2050. The second scenario (N03) is based on an even more proactive construction schedule, with 14 EPR reactors and a few SMR-type mini-reactors to achieve “a production mix based on equal parts of renewables and nuclear power by 2050”. However, this scenario is based on the assumption that the life span of existing reactors will be extended to a large extent – at this stage, EDF’s ability to meet this challenge is still very uncertain. “These scenarios make it possible to envisage a more realistic development of renewable energies and undoubtedly more acceptable in a country like France, with the possibility of switching from onshore wind projects to offshore wind. They also imply less ambitious technological bets to manage the intermittency of renewable energies in the years to come,” explains another source.
**Acceleration in renewable energies essential**
While these two scenarios represent the prospect of an unprecedented revival for the French nuclear industry, which has not commissiofned a reactor since the late 1990s and is struggling to finalize the EPR project in Flamanville, it nevertheless implies a sharp decline in the share of the atom in the French electricity mix. According to RTE’s calculations, in these scenarios for the revival of the atom, it should fall to a level of 40% of the mix, or even 50% by 2050, compared to nearly 70% today.
Also, Emmanuel Macron should also emphasize, Thursday, the need to accelerate in parallel in renewable energy and energy savings. The two scenarios depicted by RTE to accelerate in nuclear energy imply a multiplication by 7 or 8.5 of solar production capacities and by 2.5 or even 2.9 of wind production capacities. “Achieving carbon neutrality is impossible without a significant development of renewable energies,” the network manager RTE had specified when publishing its report.
We aren’t gonna be able to tackle climate change without nuclear power – France is so much smarter than Germany which replaces their nuclear power plants with coal and gas.
I can get behind this.
Nucléaire
In this Russia-Ukraine context and Macron coming back from Moscow, I was afraid before reading the last word haha
The French solution is way smarter than the German approach. Unlike Germans who are absolutely dependent on Russia to operate its industry, the French are and will be independent from Russia politically.
Thank you France
Pray the Atom
Nuclear energy is cool
The timing of this announcement is very interesting. A week ago when Macron and Putin were talking on the phone prior to yesterday’s meeting in Moscow, one of the topics they talked about is listed as: *”Some practical aspects of bilateral cooperation, including nuclear energy”.*
I was puzzled about what cooperation was needed because both countries have existing nuclear industries. All I could come up with was that one of the scenarios France was exploring was using Russian expertise to do a life-extension project on France’s existing reactors – that extra 10 years would be a cheap way to get over the messy transition to renewables.
Nuke that pesky Putin 🙂
Macron being unusually based once more!
A waste of opportunity cost and money.
The EDF is already 40 billion euros in debt and will only kept piling on with 45 billion more by 2025 simply to maintain production as is.
Even the IEA, infamous for continuosly failing to predict the growth of renewables by magnitudes, has to admit the factual:
The future energy grids will be utterly dominated by renewables with only small amounts of complimentary npps.
If even that.
This is the analysis of one of the most conservative and cautious organizations that exist within the energy industry.
All this will happen – is already happening – not because of moral reason or the desire to do good.
But because hard, cold economic facts.
Renewables, and solar especially, are outcompeting (historically) cheap gas on cost .
Let alone coal or god forbid nuclear power.
Add to that the fact that they scale up very easily, are fast to construct, dont take up billions of construction capital, are quickly amortized, and you have technological disruption that will leave behind billions of obsolete stranded assets.
Consider this: in the last two years 90% of all newly build electricity generators were renewables.
And we are only at the beginning of what seem to be an exponential growth curve.
>While these two scenarios represent the prospect of an unprecedented revival for the French nuclear industry, which has not commissiofned a reactor since the late 1990s and is struggling to finalize the EPR project in Flamanville, it nevertheless implies a sharp decline in the share of the atom in the French electricity mix. According to RTE’s calculations, in these scenarios for the revival of the atom, it should fall to a level of 40% of the mix, or even 50% by 2050, compared to nearly 70% today.
Oh dear, oh dear, I misread this as ‘Macron to launch a major nuclear progrom’. C’est l’heure de dormir.
Smart, it’ll pay off aswell as neighbouring countries will have to start buying more and more electricity from them in coming years
I’d just like to say, that I am a huge fan
Germany just the opposite
Can we have them do the U.K. too? If we offer France a few hundred billion could they build out some nuclear infrastructure for us?
20 comments
Two years of high school French isn’t cutting it.
**On a trip to Belfort on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce the construction of more than six EPR-type reactors. That is to say, to go beyond the working scenario entrusted to EDF to renew the current fleet of reactors.**
During his five-year term, Emmanuel Macron has constantly blown hot and cold on nuclear energy, on the one hand putting off the deadline for reducing the share of nuclear power in the French electricity mix and confirming, on the other, the closure of the Fessenheim plant in Alsace. But in the home stretch of his term, before the presidential election, he is changing gears.
Expected in Belfort on Thursday, March 10, to announce his plan to revive the nuclear industry, the head of state is expected to opt for an outright revival of atomic energy. These announcements are of course subject to the outcome of the presidential election.
“Emmanuel Macron will confirm the construction of EPRs and could go beyond six,” says a source close to the file, who specifies that these construction starts must be announced both for the short term and for the medium, long term.
**Ambitious scenarios**
In other words, the working scenario entrusted to EDF, which would consist of building only six EPR-type reactors by 2045, and eight by 2050, would no longer be entirely relevant. “We are going to face massive electrification needs, we have to push all sources of electrification”, pleads another source. In concrete terms, the head of state could outline an energy future similar to the two ambitious scenarios in the construction of new nuclear reactors described by the grid operator RTE, in its study detailing possible paths to carbon neutrality in 2050, entitled “Energy Futures 2050.
**Two plans on the table**
The first (N2) is based on the launch of an “ambitious” and “rapid” program of new reactor construction, with one pair every three years starting in 2035, to reach 14 new EPR reactors by 2050. The second scenario (N03) is based on an even more proactive construction schedule, with 14 EPR reactors and a few SMR-type mini-reactors to achieve “a production mix based on equal parts of renewables and nuclear power by 2050”. However, this scenario is based on the assumption that the life span of existing reactors will be extended to a large extent – at this stage, EDF’s ability to meet this challenge is still very uncertain. “These scenarios make it possible to envisage a more realistic development of renewable energies and undoubtedly more acceptable in a country like France, with the possibility of switching from onshore wind projects to offshore wind. They also imply less ambitious technological bets to manage the intermittency of renewable energies in the years to come,” explains another source.
**Acceleration in renewable energies essential**
While these two scenarios represent the prospect of an unprecedented revival for the French nuclear industry, which has not commissiofned a reactor since the late 1990s and is struggling to finalize the EPR project in Flamanville, it nevertheless implies a sharp decline in the share of the atom in the French electricity mix. According to RTE’s calculations, in these scenarios for the revival of the atom, it should fall to a level of 40% of the mix, or even 50% by 2050, compared to nearly 70% today.
Also, Emmanuel Macron should also emphasize, Thursday, the need to accelerate in parallel in renewable energy and energy savings. The two scenarios depicted by RTE to accelerate in nuclear energy imply a multiplication by 7 or 8.5 of solar production capacities and by 2.5 or even 2.9 of wind production capacities. “Achieving carbon neutrality is impossible without a significant development of renewable energies,” the network manager RTE had specified when publishing its report.
We aren’t gonna be able to tackle climate change without nuclear power – France is so much smarter than Germany which replaces their nuclear power plants with coal and gas.
I can get behind this.
Nucléaire
In this Russia-Ukraine context and Macron coming back from Moscow, I was afraid before reading the last word haha
The French solution is way smarter than the German approach. Unlike Germans who are absolutely dependent on Russia to operate its industry, the French are and will be independent from Russia politically.
Thank you France
Pray the Atom
Nuclear energy is cool
The timing of this announcement is very interesting. A week ago when Macron and Putin were talking on the phone prior to yesterday’s meeting in Moscow, one of the topics they talked about is listed as: *”Some practical aspects of bilateral cooperation, including nuclear energy”.*
I was puzzled about what cooperation was needed because both countries have existing nuclear industries. All I could come up with was that one of the scenarios France was exploring was using Russian expertise to do a life-extension project on France’s existing reactors – that extra 10 years would be a cheap way to get over the messy transition to renewables.
Nuke that pesky Putin 🙂
Macron being unusually based once more!
A waste of opportunity cost and money.
The EDF is already 40 billion euros in debt and will only kept piling on with 45 billion more by 2025 simply to maintain production as is.
Even the IEA, infamous for continuosly failing to predict the growth of renewables by magnitudes, has to admit the factual:
The future energy grids will be utterly dominated by renewables with only small amounts of complimentary npps.
If even that.
This is the analysis of one of the most conservative and cautious organizations that exist within the energy industry.
All this will happen – is already happening – not because of moral reason or the desire to do good.
But because hard, cold economic facts.
Renewables, and solar especially, are outcompeting (historically) cheap gas on cost .
Let alone coal or god forbid nuclear power.
Add to that the fact that they scale up very easily, are fast to construct, dont take up billions of construction capital, are quickly amortized, and you have technological disruption that will leave behind billions of obsolete stranded assets.
Consider this: in the last two years 90% of all newly build electricity generators were renewables.
And we are only at the beginning of what seem to be an exponential growth curve.
>While these two scenarios represent the prospect of an unprecedented revival for the French nuclear industry, which has not commissiofned a reactor since the late 1990s and is struggling to finalize the EPR project in Flamanville, it nevertheless implies a sharp decline in the share of the atom in the French electricity mix. According to RTE’s calculations, in these scenarios for the revival of the atom, it should fall to a level of 40% of the mix, or even 50% by 2050, compared to nearly 70% today.
Oh dear, oh dear, I misread this as ‘Macron to launch a major nuclear progrom’. C’est l’heure de dormir.
Smart, it’ll pay off aswell as neighbouring countries will have to start buying more and more electricity from them in coming years
I’d just like to say, that I am a huge fan
Germany just the opposite
Can we have them do the U.K. too? If we offer France a few hundred billion could they build out some nuclear infrastructure for us?