The EDF Golfech nuclear power plant at night from Dunes, in the south-west of France, on January 3, 2023 (AFP/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)
Second part of the energy triptych, the nuclear acceleration bill which aims to promote the construction of new reactors begins its parliamentary journey in the Senate on Tuesday, where it should be carried by favorable winds.
This technical text by the Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher should make it possible to concretize the relaunch of an “ambitious and sustainable” nuclear policy initiated by Emmanuel Macron.
A goal shared by almost all senators, mostly right-wing, with the exception of environmentalists.
The President of the Republic announced his intention to build six new reactors and wanted studies to be launched for the construction of eight others.
The bill aims to “save time” – up to 56 months hoped – by simplifying the administrative procedures for the construction of new installations near existing nuclear sites. This for a period limited to 15 years in the initial text, increased to 20 years by the senators in committee.
Concretely, the sites will be exempted from town planning authorization because the control of conformity will be ensured by the State. The right of expropriation will be relaxed. Or even work on buildings not intended to receive radioactive substances could be started before closing the public inquiry.
The next two EPRs should be located in Penly (Seine-Maritime), followed by two others in Gravelines (North), according to EDF’s plans.
“The objective of the first casting of concrete, which is very ambitious, is by the end of the five-year term, therefore 2027 (…) rather the end of 2027”, indicated Ms. Pannier-Runacher during her hearing by the senators. As for the commissioning, it advanced “2035-37”.
– Locks –
“We are very behind on nuclear power”, deplores the LR president of the Economic Affairs Committee Sophie Primas.
For the rapporteur Daniel Gremillet (LR), this text “is necessary if we want (…) to have sufficient energy at an accessible and carbon-free price, and controllable energy”.
The senators regret, however, that the texts are submitted to them “upside down”. For them, it is the energy programming bill, setting the trajectories of France in each energy, which should have arrived first, before the two technical texts on renewables and nuclear. The minister “hopes” that it can be presented in June.
The rapporteur wanted to “fill in the blind spots of the text, which suffers from a lack of strategic vision”.
The senators thus want to break down pre-existing “locks” by abolishing in particular the objective of reducing to 50% the share of nuclear power in electricity production by 2035, and by imposing the revision of the decree which provides for the closure of 12 reactors, in addition to Fessenheim.
France, which derives about 70% of its electricity from nuclear power, decided in 2015 to diversify its supply by closing 14 of its 58 reactors, before a reversal announced by the president.
The senators also adopted a series of amendments on “two major axes: simplify and secure”. In particular, this involves integrating the risks linked to climate change in the safety demonstration of reactors and cyber-resilience in their protection against malicious acts.
Government and senatorial majority will still find on their way the environmental senators, for whom “this new nuclear goes against the grain of history”, according to their leader Daniel Salmon.
Environmentalists will defend a motion to reject the text outright, which they believe puts parliamentarians before the “accomplished fact”, while a public debate on the construction of new nuclear reactors is not over.
“This text in no way preempts the decisions that would be taken on the future of the French energy mix or on the construction of the EPR2 program”, we are assured at the ministry.
A solemn vote will be organized on Tuesday January 24 in the hemicycle of the Senate, then the bill will go to the National Assembly.
© 2023 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends with the buttons below.
