OHe ended up not believing it anymore. Sixteen years after the start of work, the Finnish nuclear reactor at Olkiluoto is finally ready to be connected to the grid. The local operator, TVO, officially asked the safety authority on December 8 for its approval to start the chain reaction, in order to produce electricity from the first quarter of 2022. Built by the French Areva, it will be the first EPR to operate in Europe, joining the two other copies of this type already running in Taishan, in southern China.
Will the ice EPR signal the thaw of nuclear energy in Europe? For the moment, it has above all symbolized the winter in which this technology entered following the accident at the Fukushima plant in 2011 in Japan. Interminable worksite, messy conflicts and bill on the ceiling, the Nordic reactor only foreshadowed the nightmare experienced by the French with their first EPR, built on the same model but by EDF in Flamanville and which made the skidding caricature budget for major projects: ten years late and a cost multiplied by six, to nearly 20 billion euros.
Review the costing of this technology
It is understandable that under these conditions, the Court of Auditors never ceases to alert on the need to review the costing of this technology. Especially since, with the help of the energy crisis, the government is preparing to announce the construction of a handful of new EPRs. In a latest report, published this Monday, December 13, it insists on the need to take into account all production costs before deciding on crucial energy choices. It seems obvious, but until now, the decision to reduce nuclear power to 50% of electricity production to make room for renewables has been more a matter of the political choice of the moment than a sound economic reflection. It was necessary to give a pledge to environmentalists.
Moreover, the latter were not mistaken. Guest of the Economy Club of World on November 16, Yannick Jadot, the Greens’ presidential candidate, justified his rejection of nuclear power not only by the classic argument of security and waste, but above all by the financial drift of this technology.
Hence the importance of listening to the Court of Auditors, which insists on the need to take into account the entire system: not only production but also storage, flexibility of demand, transport, distribution and even trade with neighboring countries. According to her, the construction of six additional EPRs would represent an investment of 46 billion euros and an estimated production cost of between 85 and 100 euros per MWh (megawatt hour). We are far from 42 euros, the current regulated price at which EDF sells its nuclear wholesale to its competitors. This does not discredit this technology but reminds it of a certain discipline, a condition for a more serene debate. Whether we are building trains, tunnels or power plants, we are always caught up one day by the reality of the figures.