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08.11.2017 17:47- Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot said it was not realistic to cut nuclear energy’s share of electricity production to 50 percent by 2025 from 75 percent now.
© IAEA Imagebank, flickr.com
France risks power supply shortages after 2020 if it moves ahead with plans to simultaneously shut down four 40-year-old nuclear reactors and all its coal-fired plants, according to grid operator RTE, Reuters reported.
France aims to phase out coal and by 2025 to reduce nuclear power in its energy mix to 50 percent from 75 percent by shutting some reactors and increasing its use of renewable energy.
Beyond 2025, France will need to add about 11 GW in capacity using renewables and gas fired plants, RTE said in its 2017-2035 Electricity Outlook, citing French plans to shut down about 24 of the country’s 58 nuclear reactors. That could increase and even double France’s carbon dioxide (CO2) power generation emissions, RTE said.
After RTE warned of risk of supply shortages after 2020 and could miss a goal to curb carbon emissions, the French government has postponed a long-held target to reduce the share of nuclear energy in the country’s power production.
Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot said it was not realistic to cut nuclear energy’s share of electricity production to 50 percent by 2025 from 75 percent now and that doing so in a hurry would increase France’s CO2 emissions, endanger the security of power supply and put jobs at risk. He later said the government would be working towards a 2030 to 2035 timeframe. Hulot added that while there was a delay, the government would in a year’s time have a clear programme on which reactors to close and when.
In 2015, the previous government of Francois Hollande passed an energy transition law setting out the 50 percent target by 2025. But Hollande took no concrete steps towards closing any reactors.
President Emmanuel Macron had promised to keep the target. Hulot said in July it might have to close up to 17 of its 58 reactors by 2025 to achieve it.
State-owned EDF, the world’s biggest operator of nuclear plants, has long said it made no sense to shut down functioning reactors and instead wants to extend the lifespan of its nuclear fleet from 40 to at least 50 years.
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