The Elysée spoke on Monday, March 17, a “first commission” of at least one of the six future nuclear reactors EPR2 “by 2038” on Monday March 17, while the horizon displayed so far was 2035, after a nuclear policy council around President Emmanuel Macron. During this meeting, the participants also “examined the main principles of the financing scheme” of this EPR2 program, specifying that it would be “based on a bonus state loan covering at least half of the construction costs”, according to a press release from the presidency. Friday, the Elysée had noted that the European Union had validated the financing of the Czech power station of Dukany essentially by a loan of the zero rate, seeming to see a source of inspiration.
This nuclear policy council has held its fourth meeting since the Head of State’s speech in Belfort in February 2022, which had made the revival of a nuclear program. The president then announced a construction program of six new nuclear reactors and an option for eight others, with a commissioning around 2035 for the first of them. But a government audit of February 2022 already spoke of the 2037 horizon for the first commissioning.
79.9 billion euros
On Monday, the participants “examined the main principles of the financing scheme” of this EPR2 program, specifying that it would notably be “based on a bonus state loan covering at least half of the construction costs”, according to a press release from the presidency. The Elysée had noted on Friday that the European Union had validated the financing of the Czech power station of Dukany essentially by a state loan at zero rate, seeming to see in it a source of inspiration. This financing model would be accompanied by a contract on nuclear production at a price guaranteed by the State of 100 euros maximum of the megawatt hour (MWH) in euros of 2024, said the press release.
The Elysée now hopes to “finalize the discussions between the State and EDF” and “quickly initiate discussions with the European Commission, with a view to an EDF final decision in 2026”, last crucial stage before the launch of the construction site.
The cost of the program under the conditions of 2020, initially estimated at 51.7 billion euros in 2022, is now estimated at 67.4 billion euros and 79.9 billion euros on the conditions of 2023, said in January the Court of Auditors, on the basis of an EDF figure at the end of 2023. In February, the Minister in charge of Energy Marc Ferracci By evoking a cost “below 100 billion euros”, taking into account in particular inflation. EDF had indicated on February 20 that the complete assessment of costs and the construction calendar of the six future EPR2 reactors of EDF would still take “several months”.