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The French Council of Ministers has just approved a draft of legislation intended to streamline the administrative and bureaucratic processes required to construct new nuclear power plants near, or within, existing sites.
According to the official report of the cabinet meeting, the goal of the bill is to respond to the “urgency of a climate crisis which threatens our ecosystems, our societies, the future of the young generations and, on the other hand, of a crisis of sovereignty and security of energy supply in 2022 following the Ukrainian conflict”. The provision of new nuclear power is referred to as “imperative” to fight climate change and foster energy independence.
The draft bill “aims to lay down a framework for accelerating administrative procedures related to to the realization of future projects for the construction of new nuclear power reactors in France, and thus to shorten the deadlines for carrying out these projects, when they are located in the immediate vicinity or within the perimeter of existing nuclear sites”.
The text of the bill also adds that it is not pre-empting the place of nuclear energy in the country’s future energy mix. A consultation on that subjects was launched just two weeks ago. The bill also does not change the existing environmental or nuclear safety authorization requirements. However, it aims to “bring local planning documents into line more quickly” and will permit some processes to happen in parallel. The bill also suggests measures to ensure that the necessary land can be taken possession of for “reactor projects recognized as being of public utility”.
The bill cites the plan to build the two EPR2s in Penly in northern French as it notes “this bill allows the construction of new nuclear reactors by the sea, provided that they are built in the immediate vicinity or inside the perimeter of an existing nuclear power reactor”.
The draft law will be submitted to the National Assembly at the end of this year. When questioned about how much time could be saved for new nuclear projects as a result of the draft law, government spokesperson Olivier Veran said that one must think “in terms of years”.
Nuclear power accounts for almost seventy five percent of France’s electricity generation. However, former French President Francois Hollande’s government announced in 2014 that nuclear capacity would be capped at the current level of sixty-three gigawatts. It would be limited to fifty percent of France’s total power output by 2025. The French Energy Transition for Green Growth Law was adopted in August of 2015. It did not call for the shutdown of any currently operating nuclear power reactors. However older reactors would have to be closed in order to bring any new reactors online. However, under a draft energy and climate bill presented in May of 2019, France will now delay its planned reduction in the share of nuclear power in its mix of energy sources to fifty percent from the current target of 2025 to 2035.
Last February, French President Emmanuel Macro announced that the time was right for a nuclear renaissance in France. He said that the operation of all reactors should be extended without compromising safety and unveiling a proposed program for six new EPR2 reactors. There is an option included for a further eight EPR2 reactors.