France Postpones Plans To Reduce Nuclear Share After Warning Of Shortages

8 Nov (NucNet): The French government has postponed a target to reduce the share of nuclear energy in the country’s energy mix after grid operator RTE warned it risked supply shortages after 2020 and could miss a goal to lower carbon emissions. In 2015 the previous government of Francois Hollande established an energy transition law which set a target of reducing the share of nuclear in the energy mix to 50% by 2025 from the current 75%. But environment minister Nicolas Hulot said on 8 November 2017 this would not be realistic. He said reducing the nuclear share in a hurry would increase France’s CO2 emissions, endanger the security of power supply and put jobs at risk. Mr Hulot said president Emmanuel Macron’s government remains committed to reducing nuclear energy and ordered his ministry to produce a new timetable. He later said in a television interview that the government would be working towards a 2030 to 2035 timeframe. RTE said in its 2017-2035 Electricity Outlook that if France went ahead with plans to simultaneously shut down four 40-year-old nuclear reactors and all its coal-fired plants, there could be risks of power supply shortages. State-controlled utility EDF, which operates France's 58 commercial nuclear power plants, has argued instead to extend the operation of its nuclear fleet from 40 to at least 50 years. France is the second largest generator of nuclear electricity behind the US. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, France’s nuclear fleet produced almost 28% of the country’s electricity in 2016.