Under the impetus of France, they intend to highlight the atom in the decarbonization of industry.
Strengthening cooperation on nuclear energy was a desire expressed during a meeting held in Stockholm on February 27 between European energy ministers, with this message defended by the French Minister for Energy Transition: nuclear energy is one of the many tools to achieve climate goals, produce baseload electricity and guarantee security of supply, without CO2 emissions.
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The goal is twofold: to achieve the European objective of carbon neutrality in 2050, while renewable energies are still unstable, and to face international competition. The UK, US, China, India, South Korea and Japan already see nuclear as an important way to decarbonize their economies. The idea is to be on an equal footing.
The eleven European States in question (France, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Finland, Poland and Slovakia in particular) agree to support new nuclear projects based on innovative technologies and the operation of existing power plants. Said like that, the idea still seems very vague. For the moment, the text provides for common training initiatives and more advanced scientific collaborations, particularly in security.
Eleven out of 27 European states
This alliance, pushed by France, is a very political exercise. The Paris initiative comes at a time when the German energy model, based on cheap gas imports, is upset by the war in Ukraine. France is also battling against Germany and Spain to ensure that low-carbon hydrogen produced from nuclear power is put on an equal footing with hydrogen produced from hydraulic and solar electricity. Germany, Italy and Spain defend their model, Berlin’s hostility to the atom is shared by the Author and Luxembourg. Some, like the Baltic States, are not directly linked to nuclear exploitation. As for Sweden – whose government is nevertheless pro-nuclear – it cannot join the group, because it currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union and is, in fact, forced to neutrality. Suffice to say that the negotiations in Brussels promise to be difficult.
This alliance comes as the nuclear acceleration bill arrives in the National Assembly. The deputies are considering the text from Wednesday March 1 in committees and will continue in the hemicycle from March 13. The purpose of this bill is to facilitate the development of nuclear energy in order to quickly get out of fossil fuels, with heavy work at stake: extension of nuclear reactors beyond sixty years, overhaul of all that is governance of nuclear safety… Another sensitive subject: the prospect for EDF of planning at the start of summer 2024 the construction of two new generation EPR 2 reactors at Penly, in Normandy.
Does France have the means to match its ambitions?
To carry out all this work, the State will have to say and plan how to finance, at a time when the public coffers are not in their best shape and EDF is in debt to the tune of some 60 billion euros. To show the magnitude of the task, during a recent hearing at the National Assembly, the CEO of EDF estimated at roughly 51 billion euros the construction of six new EPR reactors. Very heavy investments that make some specialists fear an inevitable and fairly rapid increase in electricity prices for individuals.