**During a visit to Belfort two months before the presidential election, the French head of state specified his plan to revive civil nuclear power in France. The plan includes an order for six reactors and an option for eight additional ones. The existing reactors will be extended beyond 50 years of operation, if safety is assured.**
The great return of a civil nuclear power program in France. Almost half a century after the announcement of the Messmer plan, which led to the construction of the nuclear power plants still in operation today, the country is returning to the atom. Visiting Belfort, Emmanuel Macron announced the order to EDF for six new EPR reactors, as well as an option for eight additional ones.
“If we want to meet our climate commitments, reduce our dependence on world prices, ensure the industrial development of our country or control the energy bill of the French, we must engage without delay structuring projects for our economy,” said the head of state on the site of Belfort, which includes the nuclear activities of General Electric – whose purchase EDF has acted earlier this week. Two months to the day before the first round of the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron has made a very political speech. After having blown hot and cold with the nuclear industry since the beginning of his mandate, he wants to embody an industrial revival in France. An ambition obviously conditioned by a victory in the polls next April.
​
**Nuclear and renewable energy**
“We must reduce our energy consumption by 40% in 30 years, not by practicing energy austerity, not by decreasing or restricting, but by innovation, by transforming our industrial processes, by our investment choices,” he added. By insisting on the need to reconcile nuclear power and renewable energies, the President of the Republic has laid the groundwork for the “project of the century” to “produce more low-carbon energy”. On the menu: about fifty offshore wind farms to aim for a production of about 40 gigawatts by 2050, a doubling of the capacity of onshore wind turbines, a change of scale in solar energy to exceed 100 gigawatts, the use of biogas and biomass … and of course, nuclear power.
**Six EPR 2s, eight more under study**
“The past decade has been marked by a global doubt about nuclear power (…) but the conditions for renewal are met,” said Emmanuel Macron, who announced two decisions. First, the extension of “all reactors that can be”, “beyond 50 years”, while the 58 reactors were built between 1978 and 1999.
Then the construction of six new EPR 2, perhaps followed by eight additional. “We are going to move forward in stages,” emphasized the Head of State, who announced the start of construction in 2028 for a first commissioning in 2035. At the same time, a call for projects worth one billion euros will be launched to set up SMR mini-reactors.
1 comment
**During a visit to Belfort two months before the presidential election, the French head of state specified his plan to revive civil nuclear power in France. The plan includes an order for six reactors and an option for eight additional ones. The existing reactors will be extended beyond 50 years of operation, if safety is assured.**
The great return of a civil nuclear power program in France. Almost half a century after the announcement of the Messmer plan, which led to the construction of the nuclear power plants still in operation today, the country is returning to the atom. Visiting Belfort, Emmanuel Macron announced the order to EDF for six new EPR reactors, as well as an option for eight additional ones.
“If we want to meet our climate commitments, reduce our dependence on world prices, ensure the industrial development of our country or control the energy bill of the French, we must engage without delay structuring projects for our economy,” said the head of state on the site of Belfort, which includes the nuclear activities of General Electric – whose purchase EDF has acted earlier this week. Two months to the day before the first round of the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron has made a very political speech. After having blown hot and cold with the nuclear industry since the beginning of his mandate, he wants to embody an industrial revival in France. An ambition obviously conditioned by a victory in the polls next April.
​
**Nuclear and renewable energy**
“We must reduce our energy consumption by 40% in 30 years, not by practicing energy austerity, not by decreasing or restricting, but by innovation, by transforming our industrial processes, by our investment choices,” he added. By insisting on the need to reconcile nuclear power and renewable energies, the President of the Republic has laid the groundwork for the “project of the century” to “produce more low-carbon energy”. On the menu: about fifty offshore wind farms to aim for a production of about 40 gigawatts by 2050, a doubling of the capacity of onshore wind turbines, a change of scale in solar energy to exceed 100 gigawatts, the use of biogas and biomass … and of course, nuclear power.
**Six EPR 2s, eight more under study**
“The past decade has been marked by a global doubt about nuclear power (…) but the conditions for renewal are met,” said Emmanuel Macron, who announced two decisions. First, the extension of “all reactors that can be”, “beyond 50 years”, while the 58 reactors were built between 1978 and 1999.
Then the construction of six new EPR 2, perhaps followed by eight additional. “We are going to move forward in stages,” emphasized the Head of State, who announced the start of construction in 2028 for a first commissioning in 2035. At the same time, a call for projects worth one billion euros will be launched to set up SMR mini-reactors.