France plans to restart nuclear power on a large scale by advancing the "Energy Sovereignty Act"
French Minister of Energy Transformation Agnès Pannier-Runacher said in a recent interview with the media that in order to revive the civilian nuclear industry, the French government will submit an "Energy Sovereignty Bill" to Congress. Plans for six new EPR reactors and eight alternative reactors will be included in the energy sovereignty bill to reduce the share of fossil fuels in France's energy mix from over 60% to 40% by 2035. After 2026, the newly installed nuclear power capacity will reach 13 GW, equivalent to 8 EPR reactors.
The text of the bill abandons the original goal of reducing the share of nuclear power in the power mix to 50% by 2025, with the potential for new nuclear power to eventually reach 14 units.
Starting from June 8, 2022, as the world's largest nuclear power company, Electricite de France (EDF) will begin to be fully nationalized. French energy officials said at the time that the complete nationalization of French electricity would help France complete its plan to build six new-generation nuclear reactors and strengthen the country's energy independence.
The purpose of the French government's move is to restart France's nuclear power development plan. The French Macron government has proposed a plan to restart nuclear power, planning to build six new third-generation pressurized water reactors (EPR2) by 2050, and conduct feasibility studies on building eight more nuclear reactors, of which the first new EPR2 will be put into operation in 2035. .
In 2022, European electricity prices have reached the highest level on record, with the bulk purchase price of electricity exceeding 1,000 euros per megawatt hour (equivalent to about RMB 7.6/kilowatt hour), compared with approximately 85 euros per megawatt hour in the same period in 2021. It rose at least 11 times.
Procurement costs are rising, but the French government does not allow power companies to completely pass on the costs to consumers. EDF is estimated to be saddled with a huge debt of 43 billion euros. At the same time, EDF's financial position is expected to come under further pressure as the government requires EDF to launch a new nuclear reactor construction plan.
For EDF, it is expected to obtain better financing conditions after full nationalization.
