On July 1, 2021, a technician in a protective suit works on a live 250,000 high-voltage line of a substation of the RTE (Electricity Transport Network) in Grande-Synthe, France. REUTERS / Pascal Rossignol
PARIS, Oct 25 (Reuters) – French grid operator RTE said next-generation nuclear reactors offer an affordable way to shift the country’s energy mix away from fossil fuels and make the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 achievable.
“The construction of new nuclear reactors makes economic sense, especially since a fleet of around 40 gigawatts (GW) can be maintained in 2050,” RTE explains in an expert report the various ways of covering the expected increase in electricity demand.
Industry and government sources say the report is intended to support President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to advance plans to build new nuclear power plants.
Le Figaro reported last week that Macron plans to announce the construction of six new EPR nuclear reactors by the end of the year.
In order to achieve future climate-neutral goals without nuclear reactors, renewable energies would have to be expanded faster than the most dynamic electricity mix in Europe, said RTE.
France and several other European countries have urged nuclear energy to be labeled as a green investment in the European Union’s upcoming rules on sustainable finance. Continue reading
The climate-neutral goals are “impossible” without a significant expansion of renewable energies, said RTE.
Further supply options are the expansion of further interconnectors between the countries, the expansion of water storage facilities and the installation of batteries to store renewable electricity.
In order to meet the increasing consumption forecasts, new thermal power plants could also be used that use carbon-free gases such as “green hydrogen”, which is produced using renewable energies.
RTE said the current energy crisis shows that Europe’s reliance on hydrocarbons like gas and coal comes with economic costs and that low-carbon production in the country is a matter of energy independence.
France’s nuclear security watchdog ASN released more than half of its nuclear fleet in February after maintenance for a decade longer than originally planned as 32-900 megawatt reactors reach the end of their life.
France currently has 62.4 GW of nuclear generating capacity provided by 57 reactors, RTE data showed.
REACTION
Environmental groups criticized the report’s emphasis on nuclear energy and supported calls for a faster expansion of renewable energies.
Greenpeace focused on the three ways in which the grid would run 100% with renewable energy and called for debates about the energy transition.
“This proves not only that nuclear power is not a necessary evil, but also that renewable energies, no matter which option is chosen, have to be massively expanded in order to respond to the climate crisis,” said Greenpeace.
The RTE report said scenarios with high proportions of renewable energy or those that extend reactor life beyond 60 years would involve “strong bets on the technology” to achieve carbon neutrality goals.
French Green Party members described the report as one-sided and an attempt to justify new nuclear projects without taking into account consumption control measures.
“The goal of the President of the Republic and his government is clear: to justify the revival of nuclear power at all costs,” said Matthieu Orphelin, who previously represented Macron’s party but joined the Greens.
The French renewable energy union SER said the scenarios presented in the report represented “a major paradigm shift” as renewables are expected to meet at least 50% of demand by 2050.
Reporting by Forrest Crellin and Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mike Harrison
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