“Our great opportunity is electrical energy of nuclear origin”, proclaimed Prime Minister Pierre Messmer in 1974. An opportunity immediately implemented with the “Messmer plan”, synonymous with “all-nuclear” and the announced at the time the launch of 13 new power plants. A stroke of genius, with which France wants to reconnect fifty years later: the expected visit, on May 24 – it was planned for this Thursday, May 16 but was postponed due to the chaotic situation in New Caledonia – of Emmanuel Macron in Flamanville, in Normandy, should mark the return to favor of the atom, with the upcoming commissioning of the 57th French reactor.
Forgotten, the criticisms of the additional costs and colossal delays of “Flam 3”, the first model of EPR technology. Crossed out with the stroke of a pen, Emmanuel Macron’s promise in 2017 to reduce the share of nuclear power to half of France’s electricity “mix”. And so much the better. Since the conversion of the President of the Republic in Belfort two years ago, the country has placed civil nuclear power at the center of its priorities. Not without difficulty, as the sector, neglected for years, had lost part of its know-how.
But France, faced with accelerating global warming, no longer has a choice: to rely solely on solar or wind power to guarantee the energy transition is to expose itself to assured failure. The Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and its impact on energy supply, the commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 have given new color to nuclear power, with the equivalent of a “Messmer bis plan” concocted by the executive: six EPR2 reactors, work on which will begin in 2028, to which will be added eight others, which should be announced very quickly.
This “new nuclear power”, we promise at EDF, will draw lessons from the laborious experiences of Flamanville 3, Hinkley Point (United Kingdom) and Finland. With simpler and more affordable models. Also with old power plants set to undergo a makeover. And finally, with the addition of smaller reactors, the future SMRs. Enough to reshape the French civil atomic situation in the twenty years to come. It remains to find the financing (we are talking about more than 100 billion euros), the right skills (boilermakers, pipefitters or welders are not legion): we must hope that stewardship will follow!
Opinion is already following: support for nuclear energy has never been so strong in France. To the point that even the (young) ecologists mute their criticism. This is not a French exception: everywhere in Europe, nuclear programs are being relaunched. Well, almost everywhere: in Germany and Austria, the governments remain as hostile to the atom as ever. However, more than 60% of Germans would be in favor of a return to nuclear power, after the closure of the last power plants in 2023… In the meantime, France has regained the lead in the European pack of nuclear powers: it has once again become a net exporter of electricity in 2023. Helios and Aeolus, the gods of the sun and wind, better watch out…
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