“We do not need a new tax”, assures Agnès Pannier-Runacher

“We don’t need a new tax” to finance new nuclear reactors, declared this Wednesday on franceinfo the Minister of Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher. The construction cost of the six new EPRs which should come out of the ground between 2035 and 2050 is estimated at 51.7 billion euros, according to EDF, plus 4.6 billion in the event of difficulty in implementation.

However, the Minister assures us that the tax lever to finance these six new second-generation EPR reactors is a “complete fantasy”. “I remind you that it is an investment and not an expense”, insisting that it should “bring money to the French”. “What we are building is a capacity to produce electricity at a competitive cost”insisted Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

Commissioning of new EPRs at Penly between 2035 and 2036

“We need long-term funding which can be either from the state. And as it is an investment, it is not considered as a budgetary expenditure”, added the Minister for Energy Transition. Another solution mentioned by the Minister is the participation of “the Caisse des dépôts to support this construction in financing”. A stake that is a “possibility”she clarified.

The nuclear bill promoting the construction of new nuclear reactors arrives in the National Assembly on Wednesday. It intends to simplify administrative procedures in order to promote the construction of second-generation EPRs. According to the minister, “the decision we are taking today is a decision that we are going to take, moreover, since it is a decision which also implies involving Parliament”. The next two EPRs will be located in Penly (Seine-Maritime), confirmed the minister before advancing the 2027 objective for the “first pour of concrete” And “commissioning of the first nuclear reactors between 2035 and 2036”.

“Extend all the reactors that can be extended”

“An ambitious schedule”recognized Agnès Pannier-Runacher insofar as “Achieving our climate objectives presupposes going much faster on the electrification of our country and therefore having much more electricity production capacities” important. “You know that it takes fifteen years to build a new reactor. So, by 2035, the nuclear production capacity will be based essentially on the connection of the Flamanville reactor and on the fact that we manage to find a producible, nuclear production equivalent to that which we had for example in 2017, that is to say about 30% more than today”she pointed out.

A revival of nuclear energy which is not synonymous with a change of “paradigm”, assures Agnès Pannier-Runacher. France had however decided in 2015 to close 14 of its 58 reactors, before a reversal announced by the President of the Republic in 2018 to postpone the “calendar of closure of power plants”then especially in 2022 in Belfort where Emmanuel Macron had announced that he wanted to build up to 14 second-generation EPR nuclear reactors and “extend all reactors” current “who can be” over 50 years old. “The electricity production situation in France has completely changed”, defended the Minister of Energy Transition. “The logic is to have more nuclear and more renewable energies”she added.