Paris The French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher wants to show that nuclear power is moving forward again in the country. The minister got an idea of the maintenance and repair work in Chinon, where four nuclear reactors are located. Two of them were last switched off.
“I saw a very committed workforce working to get the reactors back online,” said Pannier-Runacher on Friday when she visited the power plant, which is a good three-hour drive from Paris on the banks of the Loire. One of the switched-off reactors will be restarted in the coming days, and the other in the course of November.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government has a message for the French these days: the problems with the nuclear power plant are coming to an end. During the energy crisis, nuclear power should be relied on, just in time for winter, which in normal times covers around 70 percent of France’s electricity consumption.
At the peak of the nuclear doldrums last August, state-controlled energy company EDF had to relinquish 32 of France’s 56 reactors. Most recently, 24 miles were still off the grid.
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EDF had to shut down part of it temporarily to check the emergency cooling system pipes for the smallest cracks. In addition, more reactors than usual were shut down for routine maintenance. Repair work, which had been postponed during the lockdown periods of the pandemic, now overlaps with the corrosion problems.
Government pressure on EDF
Despite the pressure from the government, there is no guarantee that the bet will ultimately work out. The schedule presented by EDF, to switch on the majority of the affected reactors again by the end of December and the remaining five reactors by mid-February, is calculated as tight.
>> Read here: EDF expects a loss of 32 billion euros due to the failure of nuclear reactors
At the end of August, EDF had to postpone the restart of four reactors with suspected corrosion problems because the work was taking longer than planned. The group’s staff is at the limit in view of the mammoth task: According to a report by the public broadcaster Radio France, EDF brought specialists from other French nuclear companies and even from abroad to the construction sites at short notice, including around 100 welders from the USA and Canada.
Strikes in several nuclear power plants have also hampered work in recent weeks. The French electricity network operator RTE warned of “serious consequences” of the industrial action for the energy supply in winter. Finally, on Thursday, EDF and the unions signed a new collective agreement for the employees.
For the French government, it is also important to show that the country’s energy strategy is the right one by returning to nuclear power soon. In Paris, people were annoyed by criticism from Germany and above all from the German Greens. Its co-boss Ricarda Lang had said, for example, that electricity prices were also rising because nuclear power in France had “completely failed”.
Annoyed by criticism from Germany
The impression in Paris was that the opponents of nuclear power in the Federal Republic of Germany saw the temporary problems of the French reactors as an argument in the uncomfortable debate about the continued operation of the last three German reactors.
The French Minister of Economic Affairs recently reacted annoyed to the criticism of French nuclear power.
(Photo: Reuters)
“Criticism of French nuclear power is inappropriate,” said French Finance and Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire recently in an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. “The same people attacking French nuclear power keep asking us if our reactors will come back online quickly.”
Macron is focusing both on expanding renewable energies, especially offshore wind power, and on investing in new nuclear power plants. He is pursuing two goals with this dual strategy: First, the country is to become independent in terms of energy supply, especially from gas from Russia. Second, combining low-CO2 nuclear energy with wind and solar power is the best way to protect the climate.
Energy Minister Pannier-Runacher reiterated in Chinon on Friday that nuclear power plays an important role in moving away from fossil fuels such as coal and gas. Next Wednesday she will bring a law into the cabinet to speed up the construction of new nuclear reactors in France.
>> Read here: Will electricity prices fall again in the future?
“The draft law aims to gain time by simplifying the approval process,” said the minister. “Once we have Parliament’s approval, we won’t lose a minute.”
Macron announced the main features of the French nuclear plans at the beginning of the year: In the medium term, six new next-generation pressurized water reactors are to be built. In addition, EDF is said to be considering the construction of eight more nuclear reactors. Wherever possible, the lifetime of existing nuclear power plants should be extended from 40 to 50 years.
Start of construction of new reactors still under Macron
The foundation stone for the first new reactor is to be laid before the end of Macron’s term in 2027. The government has chosen the site of existing nuclear plants as locations: Two reactors each are to be built in Penly and Gravelines on the English Channel, and two more in the Rhône Valley.
The French government expects costs of a good 50 billion euros. From 2035, the new reactors should be connected to the grid. However, the European pressurized water reactor (EPR) in Flamanville shows how uncertain budgets and schedules are in nuclear power: The former prestige project of the French nuclear industry is more than ten years late.
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