- French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the construction of a new generation of nuclear power plants.
- In a televised speech, Macron justified this, among other things, with the fight against climate change and concerns about a reliable energy supply.
- At the same time, the development of renewable energies must continue.
France has been using nuclear energy for a long time and wants to stick to it. There are currently 56 reactors in operation. The country is the second largest nuclear power producer in the world, after the United States.
In a televised address, Macron said: “To ensure France’s energy independence, protect our country’s electricity supply and achieve our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, we will begin rebuilding our country’s nuclear reactors for the first time in decades.”
France continues to rely on nuclear energy
A few weeks ago, he announced his intention to build small reactors by 2030, which will make it easier to deal with approaches. Unlike Germany, France continued to rely on nuclear power after the 2011 disaster in Fukushima, Japan.
The country’s oldest nuclear power plant in Alsace, Feisenheim, closed last year, and the reactor units will be decommissioned by 2035.
Excessive costs and technical problems have recently hampered nuclear expansion by the state energy company EDF. The operating license for the controversial nuclear reactor at Flymanville on the English Channel was recently granted, and construction began in 2007.
The commission was last postponed until the end of 2022 – due to the discovery of leaky welds in the steel shell. Instead of the original estimate of 3.3 billion, the costs may now be more than twelve billion euros.
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