To facilitate the construction of new reactors, Parliament definitively adopted the nuclear revival bill on Tuesday, by a final vote of the National Assembly, where the cause of the atom is gaining ground. A week after broad support from the Senate, the deputies voted for the text by 399 votes to 100, with a coalition of votes from the presidential camp, LR, RN and communists. Only the environmental groups and LFI voted against. The PS, which opposed the text at first reading, abstained this time, after describing nuclear power as a “transition energy” towards renewables.
“A major text” for Agnès Pannier-Runacher
The Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher boasts of a “major text” to “produce independent, competitive and low-carbon energy”, and calls for a “political consensus” in energy matters. In the morning, she had gathered in Paris about fifteen representatives of pro-nuclear European countries, in order to weigh in on the “energy strategy” of the European Union.
Technical, the French bill simplifies the steps in order to concretize the ambition of Emmanuel Macron to build six new EPR reactors by 2035, and to launch studies for eight others. It concerns new facilities located in existing nuclear sites or nearby, such as Penly (Seine-Maritime), Gravelines (Nord), etc.
The 50% reduction in the nuclear share eliminated
In the wake of the Senate, parliamentarians lifted a lock introduced in 2015 under François Hollande, and already modified under Emmanuel Macron. The text thus removes the objective of a reduction to 50% of the share of nuclear energy in the French electricity mix by 2035 (initially 2025), just like the ceiling of 63.2 gigawatts of total capacity of licensed nuclear production. To the chagrin of opponents of nuclear power, he is speeding up the future multi-annual energy programming law, expected at best this summer.
“Everything was done out of order. (…) Only this programming law could decide whether or not to relaunch nuclear power”, was indignant the Insoumis Maxime Laisney. The NGO Greenpeace and the Nuclear Exit network did not fail to protest: “the government is therefore putting the cart before the horse and is launching a forced march”, they denounce.
LFI and EELV will appeal to the Constitutional Council
Another sensitive point, the text toughens the penalties in the event of intrusion into the power stations, with a penalty increased to one to two years in prison and a fine of 15,000 to 30,000 euros. At the Assembly, environmentalists and LFI railed against the bill, insisting on the “tons of waste” from nuclear power, and on the major crack on a backup circuit of a Penly reactor, announced in early March. Julie Laernoes (EELV) denounced the “frantic hype to make the population forget the dangers of nuclear power and its technological and financial setbacks”.
Rebellious and Greens promise an appeal to the Constitutional Council. The two parties are campaigning for an exit from the atom and the transition to 100% renewable energies from 2045. But 12 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, environmentalists recognize that they have lost ground in their “cultural battle ” against the atom, like the polls which show a growing support for nuclear power.
LR deputies support the text
In the Assembly, a parliamentary commission of inquiry led by LR Raphaël Schellenberger and macronist Antoine Armand, openly pro-nuclear, pointed to a “political rambling” for 30 years on energy issues. Faced with the climate emergency, and after fears of power cuts this winter against a backdrop of war in Ukraine, “we must no longer have shameful nuclear power”, pleads Renaissance MP Maud Bregeon, former EDF and rapporteur for the project. of law.
On the right, the LRs support the text while criticizing Emmanuel Macron’s “spectacular spin” on the issue. As expected, parliamentarians did not reintroduce the controversial nuclear safety reform wanted by the government. But the executive still considers it necessary to found the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), a technical expert, within the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), the policeman of the power stations, despite protests from the unions.
And in a joint joint committee, deputies and senators removed an amendment voted on by the Assembly which aimed to prevent any merger by guaranteeing a dual organization between IRSN and ASN. This text on nuclear power follows a law to accelerate renewable energies, adopted in February.