It is on all fronts: battle in Brussels, greening of the economy, energy sobriety, rescue of EDF, relaunch of a new nuclear program… Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister for Energy Transition, who has just formalized the creation of a club of about fifteen pro-nuclear countries in Europe, dreams of being a leader in the atom sector on the continent. But for that, it will first be necessary to restore the image of the EPR. At L’Express, she responds to criticism of the French slowness, the challenges of the sector and clarifies the schedule for extending the life of the current fleet. Interview.
L’Express: Our dossier highlights the many obstacles from which the French nuclear industry still suffers. A year and a half after the Belfort speech, where is the revival really going?
Agnes Pannier-Runacher: I entered the government in October 2018, when the President of the Republic commissioned EDF to study a new nuclear program, and since then I have worked tirelessly to revive this sector. In 2019, I signed a strategic contract with its representatives specifying the objectives and main commitments of manufacturers and the State. In 2020, as Minister responsible for Industry, I included nuclear power in the sectors of the French recovery plan, in the same way as health, the automobile or aviation. Finally, the France 2030 program devotes one billion euros to developing new nuclear technologies. So we kept pushing in the right direction. But I measure how much time it takes to relaunch a nuclear policy.
France is preparing to build new reactors, but what about closures? Do you plan to close any power plants. If so, over what horizon?
Today we have 56 reactors built several decades ago. The decision of the President of the Republic announced in 2022 in Belfort is very clear: they must be extended as long as possible in safety. However, I can already tell you that at some point, certain facilities will have to be closed because they will reach the end of their life and we will have no other choice. The schedule will be determined in conjunction with ASN, which guarantees the safety of the facilities. To date, EDF sees no contraindication to extending the lifetime of our reactors. We have chosen to draw all the lessons learned from Fukushima in order to raise the level of safety and we have been preparing for the extension beyond fifty years since last year.
Are we finally getting out of the stress corrosion episode?
In 2022, EDF teams were looking for ways to deal with the subject. Since then, a strategy has been found, it has been validated by the ASN and around ten reactors have already been repaired. We have now entered an industrial phase of checking and repairing the reactors. This doesn’t happen overnight, but the impact can already be seen in the fleet’s availability projections. For next winter, EDF aims to have between 10 and 25% more available power compared to last year.
So next winter will go off without a hitch?
Be careful, the risks on gas are independent of what happens at EDF. Nevertheless, we took our precautions. We are ahead of last year for the filling of our storages. Europe also has well supplied reserves, and we have a new floating terminal ready to receive liquefied natural gas. Our partners such as Norway have also increased their production capacities.
Nuclear production nevertheless remains at a low level compared to previous years. Will this power deficit last for long?
For this year, we have more favorable EDF forecasts than for last year. But you’re right, the longer-term challenge is to increase the power to be able to cope with higher consumption. Interestingly, we are producing 15% more electricity from wind compared to the same period last year. We have further secured our interconnections by signing a solidarity agreement with Germany. All of these elements will contribute to our energy supply, but to get through a cold winter, we will also have to rely on sobriety. More broadly, to achieve carbon neutrality, technology will allow us to reduce our energy consumption, but it will not do everything. We will have to change our behavior. This is the whole issue of organized sobriety that we are preparing with the Prime Minister.
In Brussels, the “nuclear part” of the directive on renewable energies is creating strong tensions between France and Germany. Is a peaceful debate still possible?
There are impressions and facts. Last year, we finalized six European texts which were far from consensual. On the gas price cap, for example. On the one hand, Spain told us that above 100 they would not sign and, on the other, Germany did not want a price below 250. Finally, a compromise was found on the initiative of France and under the Czech presidency. So indeed, the discussions can be heated and lead to one-upmanship, but we have never made so much progress.
Another example of cooperation is the civil nuclear alliance. I brought together 15 member states in favor of the atom, seven of which are in the process of relaunching the construction of reactors. And we may have new members soon. These countries are not only telling themselves that they are going to make a few small modular reactors [NDLR : des SMR, pour Small modular reactor], in 2035, they plan to launch the construction of new high-power reactors in the coming months. In this market, EPR technology is the leader in Europe: EDF is to build four reactors in the United Kingdom which will be added to the Finnish reactor commissioned several weeks ago and to the future EPR at Flamanville. No other player can claim to have built a reactor in Europe in recent years.
By ceding its market to the Americans, isn’t Poland putting a knife to the European momentum?
The Americans cannot provide a completely integrated offer and a reactor construction project without the involvement of the French sector is unlikely. This is a reality. Eastern European countries have a real interest in EDF’s offers. They no longer want to depend on Russia for their nuclear strategy. Others consider choosing several options. For Poland, everything is not over.
How to concretely restore a financial margin to EDF? Very weakened, this company must manage head-on the construction of new reactors, the large fairing, the development of SMR…
EDF must remain the strong arm of the State on energy policy. On this point, there is no ambiguity and we do not wish to take measures which would make the group less effective. In fact, the first lever to straighten EDF’s accounts is to produce more electricity. Nuclear electricity production in 2022 was 30% lower than in 2021. This drop in production is mainly due to the accumulation of maintenance delays due to Covid, the fourth ten-year inspection and corrosion under constraint. When you have significant fixed costs, having a production reduced by 30% puts a heavy burden on your accounts. Currently, EDF is working hard to pass this maintenance milestone as quickly as possible. EDF must be able to quickly return to the level of 2021 and then return to previous production levels. This represents the same volume of production as all that we want to add in terms of renewable energy by 2030. The stakes are therefore high.
Will the workforce be large enough to keep up? The sector is notably lacking in technicians…
I think we have to qualify the remarks on labor shortages. Within the photovoltaic sector, we indeed have big holes in the racket. In nuclear, on the other hand, you have 220,000 people who are among the best in the world and who ensure that 60 to 70% of our electricity is permanently available. That said, we will have to find manpower to honor the order books while ensuring the handover with the workforce retiring. We have 100,000 recruitments to make in the next ten years. Of these staff, 60,000 correspond to specific professions linked to the sector: pipefitter, boilermaker, civil engineering, metrology technician, etc. The good news is that we are able to say almost to the nearest ten the number of people we need to recruit for each of these skills.
The other good news? The attractiveness of engineering and higher technician degrees is acquired. Where two years ago we were struggling to fill engineering schools, today we have more requests than places offered. It remains to create a “wow effect” on more industrial trades, in particular to attract young people. But it won’t be long since the sector will give me its detailed action plan in the coming days.