Macron says France to reduce reliance on nuclear power, but plants to close gradually

Record ID: 1365662

  • Title: Macron says France to reduce reliance on nuclear power, but plants to close gradually
  • Date: 27th November 2018
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 27, 2018) (AGENCY POOL) VARIOUS OF FRENCH PRESIDENT, EMMANUEL MACRON, PRIME MINISTER, EDOUARD PHILIPPE, HEALTH MINISTER, AGNES BUZYN, BUDGET MINISTER, GERALD DARMANIN, ECOLOGY MINISTER, FRANCOIS DE RUGY, FINANCE MINISTER, BRUNO LE MAIRE, AND OTHER MINISTERS MEETING WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF COUNCIL FOR LONG-TERM ENERGY STRATEGY (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENT, EMMANUEL MACRON, SAYING: "Nuclear power allows us today to benefit from non-carbon energy at low cost, it's a reality. And it's, by the way, due to this that we have begun working on a new regulation of existing nuclear plants, because the current measures, which allow French people to access electricity prices that are amongst the lowest in Europe, will stop in 2025. It is however indispensable that we are able to benefit from this while the nuclear reactors are still in use. I was not elected on a promise to exit nuclear power, but to reduce the share of nuclear in our energy mix to 50 percent. And I will keep this commitment."
  • Embargoed: 11th December 2018 12:11
  • Keywords: Macron nuclear reactors renewable energy
  • Location: PARIS, HENIN-BEAUMONT, NOGENT-SUR-SEINE, FESSENHEIM, FLAMANVILLE AND LOOS-EN-GOHELLE, FRANCE
  • City: PARIS, HENIN-BEAUMONT, NOGENT-SUR-SEINE, FESSENHEIM, FLAMANVILLE AND LOOS-EN-GOHELLE, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Environment,Climate Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00198A72VB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: France will steadily reduce its reliance on nuclear power to 50 percent of the energy mix by 2035 but will only close two reactors before the end of the current presidential mandate in 2022, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday (November 27).
    In a long-awaited speech on national energy strategy, he said the country would reduce its share of nuclear in power production to 50 percent by 2035, down from 75 percent today.
    He said France would not phase out nuclear entirely, as its neighbour and economic partner Germany plans to do.
    Macron said 14 of state-owned utility EDF's 58 nuclear reactors would be closed by 2035, including four to six before 2030, two in 2027-28 and possibly two in 2025-26 if this does not jeopardise the security of power supply.
    Already-announced plans to shut two reactors at Fessenheim, close to the German border, will go ahead by the summer of 2020, Macron said.
    The previous government of socialist President Francois Hollande passed a law aiming to reduce the share of nuclear to 50 percent by 2025. Macron had committed to respect that promise in his election platform, but a few months after his election, he dropped the objective, to the frustration of environmentalists.
    Macron said the closure schedule would depend on the evolution of France's energy mix, including the planned increase of renewable energy sources and the expansion of interconnection capacity with neighbouring countries.
    The president said nuclear would remain a key element in national power supply but that a decision on building new nuclear reactors would not be taken before mid-2021.
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