Net zero becomes easier with nuclear power, says the French network operator: Energy & Environment

October 28, 2021

France can meet its net zero emissions target by 2050 through energy efficiency and electrification, which would lead to a 35% increase in electricity demand, the French grid operator said in a new report. Of the scenarios considered by Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE), the cheapest implies the construction of 14 large new nuclear reactors plus a fleet of small modular reactors, as well as significant investments in renewable energies.

(Image: RTE)

As part of its legal mandate and in response to a government referral, RTE commissioned a comprehensive study of the development of the country’s electricity system in 2019, entitled Energy Futures 2050. The main results of the study were presented by Xavier Piechaczyk, Chairman of The Board of RTE and Thomas Veyrenc, Chief Executive Officer for Strategy, Perspective and Evaluation, during a press conference on October 25th.

“Unlike most of its neighbors, the French electricity system is not based on fossil fuels,” the report said. “Its main characteristic is that it is mainly based on a fleet of 56 nuclear reactors, most of which were built and commissioned between the late 1970s and the early 1990s … Today it is undeniable that they were, for France in the fight against climate change, by producing largely CO2-free electricity in large quantities. “

Nuclear power accounts for nearly 75% of French electricity production, but former French President Francois Hollande said he wanted to limit his share of the national electricity generation mix to 50% by 2025 and Fessenheim – the country’s oldest nuclear power plant – by the end of his five-year term in May 2017. In June 2014, its government announced that it would limit nuclear capacity to the current level of 63.2 GWe and limit it to 50% of total French output by 2025 Power reactors, however, meant that EDF had to shut down older reactors in order to bring new ones on line. However, as part of a draft energy and climate law presented in May 2019, France will now postpone its planned reduction in the share of nuclear energy in the electricity mix from the current target for 2025 to 50% by 2035.

Scenarios

RTE looked at six scenarios that looked at future energy mixes based exclusively on renewable energy sources and those based on a mixture of renewable energies and nuclear energy. The scenarios differ mainly in the availability of nuclear capacities.

“In the short and medium term (2030-2035) the decision to decommission nuclear reactors is a political decision,” the report said. “At the moment there are only two ways of increasing the production potential of CO2-free electricity: keeping nuclear reactors in operation (the deadlines are too close to build new ones anyway) and expanding renewable energies.

“In the long term (2050-2060), the decommissioning of second generation nuclear reactors is an industrial obstacle: in addition to supporting the expected increase in electricity consumption, French generating plants need to be radically renewed to replace production on order.” from 380-400 TWh per year.

“Against this background, it is necessary to replace the energy decisions that France will have to make in the coming years: the twofold issue of the need to increase carbon-free electricity generation capacity and the scheduled closure of the majority of the plants that are now meeting this need. “

RTE says that without a significant expansion of renewable energies, no CO2 neutrality can be achieved. To achieve this without new nuclear reactors, “however, means faster expansion rates of renewable energies than have been achieved so far by the most dynamic European countries”.

The need to build new thermal power plants based on carbon-free gas supplies (including hydrogen) is important when nuclear revitalization is minimal and becomes massive – and therefore expensive – when the energy system is 100% renewable.

“Economically relevant”

The construction of new reactors is “economically relevant”, says RTE, all the more if it makes it possible to maintain a fleet of around 40 GW in 2050 (with a combination of existing and new systems). The study comes “with good confidence” to the conclusion that scenarios with at least 40 GW nuclear power park can lead to lower costs for the community in the long term “than a scenario that is 100% renewable on the basis of large parks”.

One of the scenarios examined by RTE envisages a nuclear generation capacity of 50 GW in 2050. This means that the operation of most of the existing reactors will be extended to 60 years in order to put 14 new reactors of the EPR2 type into operation between 2035 and 2050 (mostly between 2040 and 2050) and in addition to the installation of a considerable capacity of small nuclear reactors. This nuclear generation capacity “is expected to produce around 325 TWh in 2050. Such a volume corresponds to around 50% of national production in the benchmark consumption curve.”

Achieving a CO2-neutral electricity system by 2050 can be achieved for France at “manageable costs”, says RTE. By 2030, the country should develop fully developed renewable energies as quickly as possible and the expansion of the operation of existing nuclear reactors increases the chances of achieving the target of a 55% reduction in emissions.

However, it states: “Whichever scenario is chosen, there is an urgent need for mobilization.”

Researched and written by World Nuclear News