Nuclear power in France

Its mandate is to conduct fundamental and applied research into many areas, including the design of nuclear reactors, the manufacturing of integrated circuits, the use of radionuclides for medical treatments, seismology and tsunami propagation, and the safety of computerized systems.

The lack of consultation outside of political realms regarding the plan led to the formation of the Groupement des scientifiques pour l'information sur l'énergie nucléaire (Association of Scientists for Information on Nuclear Energy).

Active efforts by the French government to market the EPR have been hampered by cost overruns, delays, and competition from other nations, such as South Korea, which offer simpler, cheaper reactors.

[40] The Le Creusot forge was out of operation from December 2015 to January 2018 while improvements to process controls, the quality management system, organisation and safety culture were made.

[41] In November 2018, President Macron announced the 50% nuclear power reduction target is being delayed to 2035, and would involve closing fourteen 900 MWe reactors.

[45] In October 2021, French grid operator RTE plans for construction of six new EPR reactors so that by 2050, France maintains 50 GW in low-carbon nuclear power.

In October, stress corrosion cracking at Civaux Nuclear Power Plant led to the decision to shut down both blocks for long term repair.

Hot testing is currently planned to occur by the end of 2018[74] In July 2015, EDF agreed to take a majority stake in Areva NP, following a French government instruction they create a "global strategic partnership".

[76] In October 2019, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire released an audit report on the construction of the heavily delayed and nearly four times over-budget Flamanville 3 EPR development, started by Areva in 2007, which assessed it as largely a project management and skills failure.

The Finance Minister demanded EDF present within a month an action plan for the project, calling it "a failure for the entire French nuclear industry".

[77] In 2020, the French government announced plans to change the wholesale nuclear power market, to enable EDF to completely cover its costs while preventing price volatility.

Construction of these reactors started between 1984 and 1991, but full commercial operation did not begin until between 2000 and 2002 because of thermal fatigue flaws in the heat removal system requiring the redesign and replacement of parts in each N4 power station.

The EPR was originally developed as a German-French joint project to incorporate the advantages of the highly reliable German Konvoi design as well as French experience at mass construction of relatively "standardized" nuclear facilities.

However, the German nuclear phase-out precluded any construction of EPRs in Germany and ultimately led to Siemens selling its shares in the joint venture (see below).

[96] In September 2015, EDF's chief executive, Jean-Bernard Lévy, stated that the design of a "New Model" EPR (later called EPR2) was being worked on, which will be easier and cheaper to build, which would be ready for orders from about 2020.

[98] However following financial difficulties at Areva, and its merger with EDF, French Energy Minister Nicolas Hulot said in January 2018 "for now [building a New Model EPR] is neither a priority or a plan.

"[99] In 2024, the French government was considering providing EDF with interest-free reactor development loans and a long-term electricity price guarantee to support the financial case for future EPR2 builds.

Enrichment is completely domestic and was powered by 2/3 of the output of the nuclear plant at Tricastin before the switch from gaseous diffusion to gas centrifugation in the early 2010s increased efficiency thirty-fold.

MOX fuel fabrication services have also been sold to other countries, notably to the US for the Megatons to Megawatts Program, using plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons.

[62][9] This means that the capacity factor is low by world standards, usually in the high seventies as a percentage, which is not an ideal economic situation for nuclear plants.

[62] During periods of high demand, EDF has been routinely "forced into the relatively expensive spot and short-term power markets because it lacks adequate peak load generating capacity".

In very hot summers, generation output may be restricted due to legal limits on the amount and temperature of cooling water released into the final heat sink (i.e. local rivers).

[119] In Metropolitan France the areas of highest risk are rated at 4, 'strong', and are located in the Pyrenees, Alps, the south of the Haut-Rhin département, the Territoire de Belfort and a few communes in Doubs.

A variety of reasons were cited for the popular support; a sense of national independence and reduced reliance on foreign oil, reduction of greenhouse gases, and a cultural interest in large technological projects (like the TGV, whose high-speed lines are powered by these plants, and Concorde).

[134] On the first anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, organisers of French anti-nuclear demonstrations claim 60,000 supporters formed a human chain 230 kilometres long, stretching from Lyon to Avignon.

[135] Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann expects anti-nuclear petition drives to start in at least six European Union countries in 2012 with the goal of having the EU abandon nuclear power.

[147] While not a major concern at the time, the Messmer plan resulted in decreased air pollution and one of the lowest carbon dioxide emission ratios per unit of electricity produced among densely populated industrialized countries.

Unlike its neighboring countries of Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, France does not rely very much on fossil fuels and biomass for electricity or home heating thanks to an abundance of cheap nuclear power.

A collaboration between the European Union (EU), India, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea and the United States, the project aims to make a transition from experimental studies of plasma physics to electricity-producing fusion power plants.

[158] A French association including about 700 anti-nuclear groups, Sortir du nucléaire (Get Out of Nuclear Energy), claimed that ITER was a hazard because scientists did not yet know how to manipulate the high-energy deuterium and tritium used in the fusion process.