The government wants to build six new nuclear reactors, at a total cost of 51.7 billion euros. To finance this project, the government might mobilize… the money currently saved by the French on their Livret A.
No doubt, in a context of persistent inflation, the Livret A is the new darling of the French. Nearly 375 billion euros are currently sleeping on the savings books of 55 million French people according to figures from the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC), which makes it the most popular savings solution for the time being. in France. This amount, the government might well dip into it to finance the French nuclear fleet.
According to our colleagues from Les Echos, the French government is currently looking for solutions to finance its project to build six new nuclear reactors. Nearly 51.7 billion euros are needed for this. The executive might indeed direct part of the hundreds of billions of euros in savings deposited by the French on their Livret A towards this new project. “The Livret A is one of the rare resources which makes it possible to deploy very long-term financing, this corresponds quite well to the profile of nuclear power”, explains an anonymous source, who is part of the public authorities, in the edition of Echos, published Thursday, February 9.
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The Ministry of Energy Transition, for its part, considers that “the financing options for new nuclear power are being studied, without any orientation having been arbitrated at this stage”.
Six reactors on the table
The unveiled energy development roadmap, unveiled just a year ago by Emmanuel Macron, provides for the construction of six new generation EPR2 reactors, with an option for eight more. Managed jointly by the Caisse des dépôts and the banking networks, the Livret A is mainly used to finance social housing.
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“I am convinced that popular savings, the Livret A, the sustainable and solidarity development booklet, the popular savings booklet which, in total, reaches 500 billion euros today, can finance the transformation of our energy production apparatus”, recently affirmed Éric Lombard, boss of the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, before Parliament.
For its part, the Caisse des dépôts indicated that “the choices on the economic model and the carrying structure are planned for 2023 and at the hand of the public authorities”.