French nuclear electricity generation is unlikely to surpass 405 terawatt hour (TWh) annually in the years ahead due to planned shutdowns of some nuclear reactors, Jean-Bernard Levy, chief executive of utility EDF said on Sunday. France plans to halt power generation at some of its aging nuclear reactors to reduce dependence on atomic energy and develop power from renewables sources. The 1,800 megawatt Fessenheim nuclear power plant, France’s oldest, is expected to be decommissioned by 2022. EDF operates France’s 58 nuclear reactors, which account for over 75 percent of the country’s electricity needs. It has set a target to produce 420 TWh a year, but said on Thursday that production this year would be 395 TWh, compared with 393 TWh last year.
Reuters 17th Feb 2019 read more »
Why nuclear is going to be renationalized. The government has asked the president of EDF, which has just been renewed and which presented its annual results Friday, February 15, to work on a change in the structure of the company. These were only internal reflections of the government, fueled by notes from business bankers. It is now a roadmap entrusted to Jean-Bernard Lévy, who has just been renewed, Thursday, February 14, in his functions as president of EDF for a new term of four years. He was instructed to floor on a reorganization of the group and is expected to make his findings by the end of the year. Many ideas circulate, but the central objective would be to place nuclear, as well as large dams, under the control of a 100% public company. This would mean renationalising the production of the 58 reactors (soon 56 with the closure of the two Fessenheim reactors) and withdrawing EDF from the stock market, by buying back the 16% of the shares that had been put on the market in November 2005, which are worth today. between 6 and 7 billion euros. Renewable energies, distribution (RTE and Enedis) and marketing activities would be housed in a specific subsidiary that would be listed, even though the State will remain the majority.
La Croix 17th Feb 2019 read more »
