The inconstancy of the state on nuclear power could be a percentage. Reduce to 50% the share of the atom in the production of electricity in France (compared to still 69% in 2021 and 75% a decade ago): such was one of the sixty electoral commitments of candidate François Hollande for the 2012 presidential election. Commitment made in the socialist primary of October 2011, then sealed, a month later, in an agreement with environmentalists, for the legislative elections. A promise engraved, then, in the marble of the law, first “by 2025”during Mr. Hollande’s five-year term – in 2015. Then, finally, “by 2035”during Emmanuel Macron’s first term – since 2019.
Rather vague, by definition. “As in other laws, this measure has above all a declaratory value. The horizon, when we approach it, it recedes”, quips a close friend of the former socialist government. After “pragmatic expertise », this percentage, “held up like a political totem”, proves “unreachable” from 2025, acknowledged the current head of state, in November 2018, during a speech on ecological transition.
Initially pushed back by a decade, the “totem” is seen, even today, mistreated, to the point of risking obliteration. A sign of the return to grace of the atom, already interpret its detractors. Without, however, that this necessarily makes the objective of reducing the place of nuclear power in the electricity mix out of reach; all of this will also depend on the state’s ability to make up for its delay in wind and solar energy.
From ceiling to floor
The question comes back these days earlier than expected, in the course of the bill on the simplification of administrative procedures for building new nuclear reactors, which will be the subject of a solemn vote in the Senate, Tuesday, January 24. Modified by an amendment from the senatorial right, the text now plans to change the energy code. Finished the plan to restrict the place of the atom by 2035, it would now be a question of “maintain the share of nuclear power in electricity production at more than 50% by 2050”. A way to transform the ceiling… into a floor.
According to the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, any such decision would be premature. However, the government itself has proposed to erase the mention of 50%. Rejected by the Senate on January 17, the executive’s amendment intended to insert a more vague objective, that of “diversifying the electricity mix, aiming for a better balance between nuclear and renewable energies”. For some observers, this proposal was mainly a political game before the passage to the National Assembly, a way of reconciling the good graces of the deputies favorable to the atom – in particular on the right.
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