Visible from a belvedere, wedged between the chalky cliffs and the sea, the Penly power plant (Seine-Maritime) appears in the distance like an industrial fortified castle. Bruno Le Maire, jacket and black turtleneck sweater, displays a serene smile. On this Friday, December 9, the Minister of the Economy accompanies Luc Rémont, any new boss of EDF – for less than two weeks – during his first major public appearance on the Normandy site, near Dieppe. Around them crowd several local elected officials, including the Communist deputy Sébastien Jumel, and a swarm of journalists, no less than forty, accredited for the occasion.
The sky is clear, the air icy. The perfect picture. After a week marked by panic over the risk of power cuts, the reframing of Emmanuel Macron against the “scenarios of fear”, the “timing” falls, this time, at peak for EDF. During the night from Thursday to Friday, three reactors – those of Dampierre 3, Bugey 3 and Cattenom 4 – restarted, bringing to 40, a very round figure, the number of units again in operation, out of the 56 in the park. French nuclear.
“Remotivate the troops”
“EDF is sticking to its timetable and we are on the right track. Stop saying it’s a disaster, it’s not true”insists Bruno Le Maire, certain that sobriety, coupled with the increase in production, should allow the French to spend the next few months without cuts. “We approach the coming weeks with confidence, with the passage of winter,” abounds on his side Luc Rémont, dressed in the blue and orange vest with the EDF logo. No Ecowatt alert disturbed the atmosphere. Next week, however, the temperatures are expected to drop by 5°C to 6°C compared to the “reference temperatures”, which should force France to continue to import, especially from Germany.
A hundred meters below, at the end of a road covered with fences and barbed wire, in a game of “intercalated walls”, the number 2 reactor building is revealed. On the other side, a long perimeter wall under construction is already visible. His goal ? Delineate the site of a future construction site for new generation EPR reactors (EPR2). Because the government already has its idea: Penly promises to be adequate in its eyes, since the location exists, even if it will still be necessary to cut into the cliff to build the first two of these six new reactors wanted by Emmanuel Macron during his Belfort speech in February.
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