FRANCE | PAVILION MEET FRANCE’S NUCLEAR SECTOR AT WNE2021
First power France’s first nuclear reactor, Marcoule, was a joint project between the CEA and Électricité de France launched to develop the first all-French nuclear reactor. It was based on natural uranium gas-graphite technology.
NUCLEAR PLANTS AND PROJECTS France’s first commercial reactor, Chinon A-1, was connected to the grid in 1963. Currently France is home to 56 operational
nuclear power reactors. Together, these French facilities have a combined capacity of 61MW. The nuclear share of electricity production was over 70 per cent in 2019 - the highest in the world. France’s build-out of nuclear power in the 1980s and 1990s is frequently cited as the exemplar for new nuclear construction, with identical reactors built in series to gain ‘Nth of a kind’ cost reductions. There is one reactor under construction,
Flamanville 3, which will be the first use of EDF’s EPR technology on French soil. After delays it is now expected to start up in early 2022.
JOIN THE INDUSTRY AT WNE As the host of the 4th World Nuclear Exhibition (WNE), France is highlighting its own nuclear history and future, as well as providing a forum for the industry to meet, both digitally and in person. The meeting will be chaired by French diplomat and former ambassador Sylvie Bermann. As a leading nuclear country and the host of
WNE French companies are leaders in providing nuclear products and services. Nearly 400 French companies are attending the show, and our snapshot here shows that they – almost – run the gamut from A to Z. What is more, as our examples show, nuclear
skills also run the gamut. As well as heavy industries and project management, nuclear companies are offering services in digitalisation, simulation and AI, people management and other next-generation skills. Some are new startup companies and some have been with the nuclear industry for decades. And their importance in providing a variety of roles is highlighted by the presence at the show of local industrial chambers of commerce who see nuclear industries as a highly valuable for their regions.
LOW CARBON Former French president Francois Hollande said he aimed to limit nuclear’s share of the national
electricity generation mix to 50% by 2025, and to close Fessenheim - the country’s oldest nuclear power plant - by the end of his five-year term, in May 2017. The French Energy Transition for Green Growth Law, adopted in August 2015, did not call for the shutdown of any currently operating power reactors, but it meant EDF would have to close older reactors in order to bring new ones online. France remains an important voice in the
nuclear lobby. In October, it led a group of 10 EU countries, who signed a joint opinion
The French nuclear industry will “remain the cornerstone of our strategic autonomy”
President Emmanuel Macron
article published across major European newspapers during COP26 in October. The article said “Nuclear power must be part of the solution” to the climate crisis and the rise in energy prices. Decarbonising the European economy requires an “immediate and profound transition” to low-carbon energy sources, reads the article, also signed by the economy and energy ministers from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. They were clear that nuclear power must be
considered a response to the ongoing energy crisis and a tool towards a low-carbon future. “It is, therefore, absolutely necessary that nuclear power is included in the European taxonomy framework by the end of 2021,” the ministers write, pointing to EU scientific assessments which concluded the safety of nuclear power. “To win the climate battle, we need nuclear
power. It is, for us all, a crucial and reliable asset for a low-carbon future,” they argue. It should not be forgotten that France’s
interconnectors with its neighbours allow it to share its ‘always on’ nuclear generation. That means its neighbours, such as the GB market, can claim low-carbon status for power imports from France.
€1Bn
Investment in new nuclear proposed by President Macron
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