Emmanuel Macron says closing the Fessenheim nuclear power plant was “the most rational choice”

No regrets. More than two years after its closure, the President of the Republic justified, Monday, September 5, the closure of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant (Haut-Rhin). “For more than five years, the factual analysis that has been made is that the most rational choice was to confirm its closure”said Emmanuel Macron, following a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the looming energy crisis.

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The Head of State returned to the state of the plant at the time of its closure. “Fessenheim was the oldest plant in our park”recalled the President of the Republic, specifying that it was on the border of Germany, which, today, “is not aligned” with France on nuclear matters.

The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, recalled Wednesday August 31 that the closure of Fessenheim had been decided on a long time ago. If the effective closure dates from February 2020, the political will already existed under François Hollande, who made it a campaign promise in 2012. Confirmed by a decree in 2017, the closure was not implemented quickly, in particular because of delays in the Flamanville EPR construction site (Sleeve)which was to take over.