French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing to advance legislation to accelerate the construction of new nuclear projects, seeking to bring new facilities online as France grapples with its aging nuclear fleet and a looming energy crisis this winter.
Macron is seeking the Parliament’s approval for the draft legislation, which would reduce overall construction time for new facilities by more than two years, largely through streamlining certain bureaucratic processes and reducing the amount of red tape needed to bring new projects online.
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The draft bill was presented to members Wednesday at a weekly Cabinet meeting in Paris.
According to France’s Energy Transition Ministry, the legislation would allow EDF, the owner of France’s nuclear plants, to begin preparatory earthworks and the construction of other buildings surrounding the site as it awaits government approval to begin constructing core nuclear facilities.
Another separate draft bill introduced by Macron’s government Wednesday would fast-track the development of solar and wind power projects to help make up for a near-term shortfall in nuclear power generation.
Nuclear power is a key source of energy in France, which generates roughly 70% of its annual electricity from its fleet of 56 nuclear reactors.
In recent months, however, more than half of its nuclear fleet has been shut down due to corrosion, as well as maintenance and technical problems.
Right now, just 30 of France’s nuclear reactors are online. And the limited capacity has sent the country’s nuclear power generation plummeting to a 30-year low.
French power experts told the Wall Street Journal that it is unlikely that the reactors undergoing maintenance will be able to be brought back online in time for winter — raising fears about one of Europe’s key sources of power as it braces for its first winter without Russian fossil fuels.
“I’m building the chances of success for renewable energies and nuclear by allowing proceedings to be simplified,” Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said Wednesday in a radio interview with local news outlet France Inter. “We’ll need to exit fossil energies.”
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Macron has put nuclear power at the center of his country’s push to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
Earlier this year, Macron announced plans to build at least six new reactors, which will cost roughly $49.8 billion, according to government estimates.
