News | Headlines France plans to construct new NPPs France Nuclear power


In a significant change to national policy, France is to begin building new nuclear reactors ‘to guarantee energy independence,’ and meet its climate change goals, president Macron announced on 9 November in a televised address to the nation. “We will, for the first time in decades, re-launch the construction of nuclear reactors in our country and continue to develop renewable energies,” he said, although he did not disclose any details on the numbers or locations of the reactors. France currently has 56 operable nuclear reactors and one European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) under construction at the Flamanville power plant. That project, launched in 2007, is delayed, but likely to be ready by 2023. An official decision on the construction of further EPR reactors in the country is due shortly. In October, president Macron announced investments of 8 billion euros (US$9.27 billion)


in the nuclear energy sector, with plans for the construction of small-scale reactors having better waste management.


In his address Mr Macron said that French citizens are living with the consequences of the current situation every day by paying more [for] petrol, as well as facing increasing gas and electricity prices. “What we are experiencing in recent weeks requires urgent responses. This is also why the government has fixed gas prices.” To keep energy costs at a ‘reasonable’ level and reduce dependence on imports, France must continue to save energy and invest in domestic carbon-free energy production, he said. “This is why, to guarantee France’s energy independence, to guarantee our country’s electricity supply and achieve our objectives, in particular carbon neutrality in 2050, we are going, for the first time in decades, to relaunch the construction of nuclear reactors in our country and continue


to develop renewable energies.”


Currently, nuclear accounts for almost 75% of France’s power production. But former president Francois Hollande had said he aimed to limit its 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. In June 2014, his government announced nuclear capacity would be capped at the then current level of 63.2 GWe. The French Energy Transition for Green Growth Law, adopted in August 2015, did not call for the shutdown of any operating power reactors, but it meant EDF would have to close older reactors in order to bring new ones online. However, under a draft energy and climate bill presented in May 2019, France will now delay its planned reduction in the share of nuclear power in its electricity mix to 50% from the current 2025 target to a new target of 2035.


UK chooses HTGR for AMR development UK Nuclear power


In a speech to the UK Nuclear Industry Association on 2 December, Greg Hands, minister of state for Business, Energy and Clean Growth, said ‘excellent progress’ had been made on the UK’s commitment to achieve demonstration of an Advanced Modular Reactor by the early 2030s with the backing of the £385 million Advanced Nuclear Fund. “This summer, we published a Call for Evidence to gather views on the government’s preference to support High Temperature Gas Reactors for the AMR Research, Development


& Demonstration Programme,” he said. “Following evaluation of responses received, I’m pleased to announce today that we will focus on the High Temperature Gas Reactor design as the technology choice for the Programme moving forward — with the ambition for this to lead to a demonstration by the early 2030s.” Mr Hands said the UK continued to support the development of all AMRs, as part of wider activities, including the new Nuclear Bill setting out the Regulated Asset Base model to encourage private investment into nuclear projects. “To support further investment in


nuclear projects, we’re also consulting on classifying nuclear as ‘green investment’ in the UK Taxonomy, which would allow billions to flow into the sector.” He said the government “aims to reach a Final Investment Decision this Parliament on at least one more large-scale project”, noting “we announced up to £1.7 billion in the Spending Review to help deliver this objective”. He noted that the government had also invested £210 million – matched by the company – in the Rolls-Royce development of its design for a small modular reactor employing PWR technology.


DNV to lead study on potential of H2


Europe Hydrogen economy Independent certification organisation DNV is to lead a study that will produce a roadmap for European distribution networks to show how they can unlock the growth potential of hydrogen utilisation. DNV was contracted to conduct the study by the Ready4H2 project, a recently launched European project that aims to combine the hydrogen expertise and experiences from 80 European gas distribution companies and organisations.


The study will include qualitative research and analysis of the experiences that the European gas distribution companies have with hydrogen. This will be divided into specific hydrogen activities on projects, infrastructure, national involvement and on the progression of National hydrogen strategies. DNV will analyse how gas distributors can


contribute to H2 development, and develop a roadmap to show how these companies can support the transformation.


Peter Kristensen of EVIDA, and the project leader said: “The European gas distribution network is enormous – and the Ready4H2 projects represents more than 1.5 million km of pipeline across Europe. There is a significant upside if large parts of the gas distribution network can be repurposed and extended, since they will drive the transition from natural gas to hydrogen at a lower cost compared to developing a new network. To collect knowledge with gas distributors, establish how contributions to the hydrogen value chain can be made and developing a roadmap for transforming Europe’s gas distribution infrastructure is a key part of DNV’s study.” Prajeev Rasiah, executive VP for Energy


8 | November/December 2021 | www.modernpowersystems.com networks


Systems, Northern Europe, at DNV said: “Projects like Ready4H2 are very important to a successful energy transition. Our Energy Transition Outlook showed that it is vital to stimulate the demand for hydrogen and provide consumers with easier access to the energy, especially in the emission intensive ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors. The Ready4H2 project provides knowledge on how gas distribution infrastructure may be utilized for such purpose and aims to combine the hydrogen expertise and experiences across European gas distribution companies.”


Mick Cramer Jakobsen, DNV’s head of Customer Relations and Sales for Northern Europe said: “The hope is that when the project is complete, introducing hydrogen to the infrastructure will be within reach and will transform the natural gas system.”


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