The future of nuclear power in France is one of the main issues in this presidential campaign. This subject worries the French, since it emerges in the many proposals that Le Parisien has received, within the framework of its “Lab”. One of them would be to reopen the two reactors of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, in the Grand Est.
What is it regarding ?
Since the shutdown of the Fessenheim (Haut-Rhin) power plant in 2020, France has only operated 18 nuclear power plants, but retains the second largest fleet in the world, behind the United States. To support the growing consumption of electricity, with the rise of electric vehicles, a reader proposes to “restart the two atomic reactors of the Fessenheim power plant following obtaining authorization from the ASN”. Its closure, campaign promise of François Hollande, was seen as a victory for the anti-nuclear and as a heartbreak for the employees and inhabitants of the region.
The decision to permanently shut down the Fessenheim power plant was taken in 2012 under the previous five-year period and confirmed in 2015 in 2017. EDF therefore carried out the studies prior to the 4th safety review of the two Fessenheim reactors only in the perspective of its final shutdown and adapted the program of technical modifications linked to the experience feedback from the accident at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant to this context of permanent shutdown.
Is it doable?
The end of the Fessenheim power plant is recorded. It is very complicated, if not impossible, to go back. “Ten years of studies and work not carried out cannot be made up for,” says EDF. Pre-dismantling of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant began as soon as each reactor was shut down. The pre-dismantling work is already largely underway and cannot be reversed. The gigantic rotors of the power plant’s turbo-alternators have been evacuated, and the inhabitants no longer have any real hope of seeing them return.
And from a regulatory point of view, Fessenheim no longer has the authorization, by decree, of BNIs (basic nuclear installations), specifies the French electricity supplier. “In the case of Fessenheim, and the other INBs in a situation of final shutdown, the authorization to create the INB is no longer valid and no longer has any legal effect with regard to its operation”.
“The power plants built in the 1980s and 1990s need maintenance, completes RTE, the electricity transmission network. Even with Fessenheim in operation, we would have experienced a tense winter in terms of electricity supply, because this plant has two reactors, while regarding ten are missing this winter. »
Even renovated “at great expense”, the oldest of the French nuclear fleet “might not have met the safety requirements imposed on more recent reactors such as the EPR (type of third-generation nuclear reactor)”, says the NGO Greenpeace .
What do the candidates think?
The reopening of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant is on the roadmap of the far-right candidates. Marine Le Pen defends nuclear power as “safe, cheap and clean energy” and slams certain wind farms as “warts” on the landscape. In addition to its intention to create six new EPRs, it wants to establish a moratorium on the dismantling of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, which it wishes to reopen.
The far-right polemicist Éric Zemmour, who went to Fessenheim, goes further than his opponents. He proposes the opening of “14 EPR nuclear reactors by 2050” and wants to extend the life of the power stations to “60 years”. On the renewable energy side, he intends to “stop all wind turbines. It’s a disaster, it’s dreadful, it makes the French landscape ugly”.
On the left, most candidates agree on phasing out nuclear power, but they differ on the timetable.
In summary
This suggestion, which is part of Marine Le Pen’s proposals, has no chance of succeeding. The dismantling of the plant has begun, and the cost of its renovation, following 43 years of service, was prohibitive for the State (micro-cracks on the vessel of the first reactor, non-compliant steam generator, seals and obsolete components, etc.) . The plant also presented risks linked to its geographical location: it is located in an earthquake zone and therefore liable to be flooded, and above the highest water table in Europe.
