It is a strong symbol, one year after the turning point desired by the Head of State concerning the country’s energy policy. Friday, February 3, Emmanuel Macron brought together his “steering cabin” to relaunch the nuclear industry, made up of several ministers and representatives of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) and the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). Among the measures announced, “the launch of studies to prepare for the extension of the life of existing power plants to 60 years and beyond, under strict safety conditions guaranteed by the Nuclear Safety Authority”, indicated the Elysée in a press release.
Abroad, too, several countries have extended their power plants. Mainly in question: the rise in global temperatures, and the now growing idea that the trajectory of an additional 1.5°C by 2050 cannot be maintained without nuclear power. The war in Ukraine has also heightened pressures to revive this energy. The Express takes stock.
Belgium
It is the last country in a long list to consider extending its power stations. On February 3, a source familiar with the matter told AFP that the Belgian government plans to extend three nuclear reactors during the winter of 2025-26, which are supposed to close in 2025. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo was commissioned to question the operator, the French group Engie, as well as the Belgian nuclear safety authority (AFCN), on the terms of this temporary extension, said this source. In question: the surge in gas prices – against a background of limiting purchases of Russian hydrocarbons in Europe – and the fear of electricity shortages.
Last year, the government had already decided to extend for ten years, from November 2026, two other reactors in the nuclear fleet: Doel 4, near the port of Antwerp, and Tihange 3, in the Liège region. Both are 38 years old.
When taking office in 2020, the ruling coalition, made up of socialists, ecologists, liberals and Christian Democrats, nevertheless pledged to put an end to the atom, in accordance with the 2003 law on the exit from nuclear power – one of the totems of environmentalists – and to operate a replacement of part of the production capacities by gas-fired power stations. This government agreement, however, left a door ajar for the extension of two nuclear reactors, “in the event of an unexpected problem of security of supply”.
Germany
Germany, too, has turned around. On October 17, 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the extension of its last three nuclear power plants, at least until April 2023, amid an energy shortage orchestrated by Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. “Common sense prevails… This strengthens our country because it guarantees greater grid stability and lower electricity prices”, commented the Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann, while nuclear currently produces 6% of the net electricity production in the country.
On March 15, 2011, a few days after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced, during a press conference, her decision to permanently phase out nuclear power. Since then, Germany had never reconsidered its orientation, and the last three power plants still in operation – Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg, Emsland in Lower Saxony, and Isar 2 in Bavaria – were to cease their activity on December 31. 2022 at the latest.
Within the government coalition, the division is glaring between the SPD and Greens on the one hand, who remain skeptical or opposed to a nuclear extension, and the FDP of Economy Minister Christian Lindner, who sees the crisis as an opportunity to revive the atom. This extension is also demanded by the conservative Union CDU-CSU in opposition, based on a statement by Joachim Bühler, member of the board of directors of the federation of technical inspection bodies (TÜV), who assured the Spiegel that these three facilities “are among the safest and most efficient” in the world and that it would be possible to continue to produce nuclear electricity until 2026 by reconnecting them to the grid.
United States
On September 1, 2022, California passed legislation to extend the life of its last Pacific Rim nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, which was commissioned in 1984, by five years. 2030, not 2025 as expected. California thus wishes to avoid possible blackouts, as wind and solar energy are not currently sufficient to offset the production of gas-fired power stations. Diablo Canyon supplied 8% of California’s electricity and 17% of the state’s carbon-free energy last year, according to Patti Poppe, chief executive of PG&E – the plant’s operator.
The lifespan of reactors across the Atlantic was also mentioned by Cédric Lewandowski, the executive director of the EDF group, during his hearing before the commission of inquiry of the National Assembly on France’s energy sovereignty and independence. , January 19. He mentioned the six reactors (in Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia) which received a license operating license of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) up to 80 years. In theory, therefore, the two reactors at Turkey Point (Florida), whose commissioning dates back to 1972 and 1973, could produce electricity… until 2052 and 2053.
The Netherlands and Romania
On December 9, 2022, the Netherlands announced that it would build two new nuclear power plants near the town of Borssele, in the south of the country, which already hosts the only nuclear power plant in the country, dating from 1973 and which must close in 2033. This decision is the result of the coalition agreement reached in December 2021, in order to achieve the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030. The country is still very dependent on fossil fuels: gas alone represents 58% of its electricity mix, recalls the specialist journal RGN. However, the extraction of natural gas must cease by 2030 and the country will gradually phase out coal, which still represents 14% of its mix.
For its part, Romania is betting more on “mini-nuclear”: during COP26, President Klaus Iohannis tied up a civilian nuclear project with John Kerry, the United States’ special envoy for the climate, to dispose electricity supplied by small modular reactors, the “SMR” (Small modular reactor), which are easier to build and safer. Nuclear represents 18% of Romania’s energy mix, which has two Candu-type reactors (650 MW) in operation at the Cernavodă power plant. Interrupted in 1991, the construction of two new reactors on the same site was reactivated last year, again with the Americans.
To date, no plant in the world is able to produce SMRs, despite around 70 projects currently launched. Emmanuel Macron has also set himself the goal of having a prototype in France by 2030.