1 May (NucNet): France will delay by 10 years the shutdown of some of its nuclear power plants in order to fulfil president Emmanuel Macron’s aim of making the country carbon-neutral by 2050, the government said on Tuesday.
The government said it now plans to close between two and four nuclear plants by 2028 instead of the “four to six” it originally said it would close in an energy plan released in January.
Environment minister François de Rugy yesterday presented an energy and climate bill to the cabinet that will enshrine the 2050 target in law, by proposing to cut greenhouse gas emissions to less than a sixth of their 1990 levels, compared to a quarter in the current legislation.
“The current law foresees cutting the share of nuclear power [in electricity generation] to 50% by 2025, but this target would have required the building of new thermal power stations, which is in contradiction to our climate aims,” the government said in a statement.
“So we now propose to move the date back to 2035, which means closing 14 reactors, of which between two and four will close by 2028.”
In November 2018 Mr Macron said France will shut down 14 commercial nuclear reactors by 2035 out of 58, all operated by state-controlled utility EDF, now in commercial operation.
The energy plan called for four to six nuclear reactors – including two at the Fessenheim nuclear station – to be permanently shut down by 2028 and a cap to be placed on nuclear generation capacity of 63.2 GW, roughly where it is today.
The plan appeared to hedge its bets on the rest of the country’s fleet of 58 commercial reactors. It said decisions will be made on whether to close or extend the operating permits of “certain nuclear reactors beyond their fourth 10-yearly inspection”. Any decisions will be based on “the evolution of electricity consumption and exports, the development of renewable energies, the findings of the [nuclear regulator] ASN and the priority of ensuring security of supply”.
