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FRANCE-POLITICS-NUCLEAR-ENERGY,LEAD
France to close 14 nuclear reactors by 2035: Macron
PARIS, Nov 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday
that France would shut down 14 of the country’s 58 nuclear reactors currently
in operation by 2035, of which between four and six will be closed by 2030.
The total includes the previously announced shutdown of France’s two oldest
reactors in Fessenheim, eastern France, which Macron said was now set for
summer 2020.
He also announced that France would close its remaining four coal-fired
power plants by 2022 as part of the country’s anti-pollution efforts.
In a speech laying out the country’s energy policies for the coming years,
Macron said that “reducing the role of nuclear energy does not mean
renouncing it”.
France relies on nuclear power for nearly 72 percent of its electricity
needs, though the government wants to reduce this to 50 percent by 2030 or
2035 by developing more renewable energy sources.
Macron said France would aim to triple its wind power electricity output by
2030, and increase solar energy output fivefold in that period.
He added that he would ask French electricity giant EDF to study the
feasibility of more next-generation EPR nuclear reactors, but will wait until
2021 before deciding whether to proceed with construction.
EDF has been building the first EPR reactor at Flamanville along the
Atlantic coast of northwest France — originally set to go online in 2012 —
but the project has been plagued by technical problems and budget overruns.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1732 hrs