The essential arbitrations of the nuclear coverage council | EUROtoday

C ‘is a repelled assembly a number of instances which may show to be decisive for the way forward for French nuclear. This Monday, March 17, Emmanuel Macron brings collectively the fourth nuclear coverage council (CPN) since his Belfort speech in 2022, throughout which he had revived this power after years of procrastination. In a context of accelerating tensions between the state and administration of EDF, this summit should resolve basic questions for the nation’s power future – and for its reindustrialisation.

The headache of EPR2 financing

The financing of the six new EPR2 reactors is essentially the most pressing, and essentially the most complicated file to be resolved. The time is operating: negotiations with the European Commission, which must validate the chosen monetary scheme, may take as much as 18 months. Without fast determination, all the development calendar for future reactors could also be compromised.

The value of this system, initially estimated at 51.7 billion euros in 2022, is now estimated at 67.4 billion, and even as much as 100 billion together with monetary prices. This colossal quantity is on the coronary heart of a showdown between the state and EDF on the distribution of dangers. “Luc Rémont (CEO of EDF, editor’s note) will be heard, and this promises to be muscular,” breathes a nicely -informed supply.

“Everyone takes the ball,” sums up an actor within the sector. Several choices are on the desk. The state seeks to restrict its publicity. Constrained by a deficit at 6 % of GDP in 2024 and the European guidelines on public support, it favors a zero charge mortgage, impressed by the diagram retained for the financing of the brand new nuclear energy plant in Dukany, in Czechia (7.5 billion, together with 90 % funded by the State), accompanied by an extended -term assured value system within the type of a contract (Contract for Difference). But what quantity would this value be fastened? Spirits additionally warmth up on the share of funding supplied by a state mortgage, and that of the group, in addition to on the sharing of monetary dangers …

Within the chief, a number of votes ask for a finalized quote for the brand new EPR2, repelled by EDF in December 2025, earlier than committing. “A waste of time”, criticizes the deputy LR Raphaël Schellenberger. “Czeching has obtained the European green light without design or final cost. We paralyze a vital project. Are we near 10 billion, in a strategy for the next 50 years? An opinion that is not shared by all. “The new internal organization in EDF does not work, decision -making is very complicated and that does not advance on cost costing. Luc Rémont is only interested in the market, not in industry, ”tackles a near the chief. The CEO of EDF, whose mandate expires in June, could be on the recent seat.

The huge sorting of progressive small reactors

Small modular reactors (SMR and AMR) are the opposite scorching folder. Launched with 200 million euros public through France 2030, this sector has seen twelve start-ups hatch, promising a revolution within the manufacturing of electrical energy and decarbonized warmth. But a confidential audit, managed by the atomic high-energy-energy-energy final spring and revealed by The levelhoped for hopes: solely two to 4 tasks are deemed viable earlier than 2040. The majority fall on immature applied sciences and crippling gasoline issues.

The State had dedicated to making use of a “funnel” logic: first assist largely to convey out tasks, then focus the means on the most effective chosen. However, he procrastinates. “We will support the most promising, but this is a case by case,” says the Élysée, with out naming winners. This vagueness handicaps the actors. “If the CPN does not contrast, it is problematic. My clients in Helsinki, for a call for tenders at 1.5 billion, and my investors await a clear signal. Not to choose is not to help the best, ”is alarmed by CEO of Calogena Raphaël Gorgé.

His venture as a small reactor, which relies on current applied sciences and makes use of flamable pencils of shortcuting EPRs, has deposited his security file at ASN and goals for a primary reactor in France by 2030. According to our info, the audit commissioned by the federal government designated it as essentially the most profitable. But the chief hesitates: publishing the audit would crumble the losers and their traders (some start-ups have raised a whole lot of thousands and thousands of euros within the markets), whereas silence weakens leaders within the face of worldwide competitors.

This lack of readability threatens a sector the place France may shine. “We have a unique chance with projects like Calogena, which meet a real need for urban heat decarbonée”, notes Valérie Faith, basic delegate of the SFEN.

Uranium and closed cycle: the crucial of sovereignty

To uncover



The kangaroo of the day

Answer

The CPN will even scan uranium provide, below geopolitical stress. “The main uranium suppliers in the world today are in Canada, Africa and Central Asia”, and “it is important to give the means to companies in the French sector and in particular to Orano (ex-AREVA) to pursue a policy that guarantees the country’s uranium supply”, underlines the Élysée. Orano must safe shares over 20 to 30 years outdated, a strategic problem whereas France imports 100 % of its pure uranium.

The closure of the cycle, for a 100 % recycled gasoline and which might permit you to do with out pure uranium, will even be debated. “This is a major research subject,” admits the Élysée, evoking in half a doable restoration (however in one other kind) of the Astrid program, deserted in 2019. This venture, which goals to reuse plutonium and scale back waste, stays a horizon at 15 to twenty years, however essential for power independence.