before the launch of new reactors, the government wants to simplify the procedures

Presenting a law facilitating the revival of nuclear power, while a previous law, voted in 2015, then revised in 2019, plans on the contrary to reduce the airfoil by closing 12 reactors by 2035, is still not repealed: c is the government’s tour de force.

He indeed presents to the Senate, Tuesday, January 17, his bill on “acceleration of procedures related to the construction of new nuclear installations”. This text is supposed to be the counterpart of that which was voted on January 10 by the National Assembly, in first reading, on the acceleration of renewables.

Reduce administrative risk

An assumed choice. “We treat all carbon-free energies, renewables and nuclear in the same way, with the sole objective of simplifying administrative procedures in order to be able to build more quickly”, explained Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister for Energy Transition, before the senators meeting in committee, Wednesday, January 11. The objective is to be able to pour the “first concrete” of one of the two EPR 2 planned on the Penly site (Seine-Maritime) in 2027, before the end of the five-year term, for commissioning in 2035, at best .

“We cannot slip on the deadlines, we want to reduce the risk on the administrative level to concentrate on the industrial risk”, underlines the minister, in a thinly veiled allusion to the difficulties encountered by EDF on its EPR of Flamanville, whose the start is expected at the end of this year, ie eleven years late.

Alleviate regulatory constraints

“Horribly technical”, according to the minister, the bill provides for a certain number of derogations, in particular from the coastal law. It proposes, for example, to exempt the construction of new reactors from all town planning authorizations. The conformity check would be carried out by the State services, when the application is submitted, and the Council of State would deal directly with the appeals.

“Existing procedures are incompatible with the complexity of a reactor project and the need to update them would increase the construction time by several years,” says Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

The text also intends to simplify expropriation measures, if EDF needs additional land for these new reactors, all located on the territory of existing power plants. “These are provisions of last resort, already seen in the past. They have, for example, been taken for the 2024 Olympic Games”, assures the Minister of Energy Transition.

If the law is passed, “EDF will be able to begin very quickly the earthworks of the ancillary buildings or car parks before the final authorization for the construction of the reactors, which are planned in pairs”, we explain to the French company of nuclear energy (Sfen).

Many amendments planned

Given the political balance of power in the Senate, where the right is in the majority, the bill should be voted on. But it could be strongly amended. “We would have preferred the text to write down in black and white the relaunch of nuclear power announced by the President of the Republic. What is proposed to us is insufficient and inconsistent, ”deplores Daniel Gremillet, the LR rapporteur.

In particular, he had the committee vote on the removal of the objective of reducing the nuclear share of electricity production to 50% by 2035. He also regrets that the project only concerns existing nuclear sites, and does not mention the SMRs, these small modular reactors yet also promised by the Head of State.

Nuclear in France, place for debate

In his speech in Belfort, in February 2022, Emmanuel Macron had, in fact, committed to the construction of six new EPR2 reactors (two in Penly, two in Gravelines and two others in the Rhône valley), with the possibility of launch another eight. But the decision should only be recorded in the new multiannual energy programming law, scheduled for June. In the meantime, there are also the two public debates in progress, one on the construction by EDF of these six EPRs, the other on the future energy mix, just as confidential. Difficult to find there.

The debate should be lively

During the parliamentary discussion, the anti-nuclear groups intend to give voice. “All the exceptional measures proposed confirm what the history of nuclear power has been in our country: opacity and the presentation of a fait accompli”, protests Daniel Salmon, environmental senator. The method of financing the EPR2 program, which will cost at least fifty billion euros, is also absent from the debate.

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France should spend the winter without cuts

France has the “ability to end the winter” without power cuts, according to the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, interviewed on franceinfo on Friday January 13. She nevertheless called for not relaxing the efforts of sobriety.

EDF’s nuclear production has improved in recent weeks, after falling to an all-time low in 2022. Since November 1, 14 reactors have been returned to service, and France has even become an electricity exporter again in January, thanks also to weak demand linked to mild weather. Twelve reactors out of 56 are currently shut down.

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