The bill on the acceleration of nuclear power is being examined this week in the National Assembly, which has four days to study the 650 amendments to this text designed to facilitate the construction of new reactors in France. The government hopes for a smooth passage at first reading, after the very large Senate vote at the end of January. However, the reform of nuclear safety proposed by the government is causing protests even in the majority. The unions of the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) and the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) are against this reform, as are the deputies of the left-wing coalition Nupes.
A controversial nuclear safety reform
The bill aims to simplify the administrative procedures for the construction of new reactors. Limited to new facilities on or near existing nuclear sites, the bill would not add a two- to three-year delay to reactor construction. The government wants to build six new EPRs by 2035, and the next two would be located in Penly, followed by two others in Gravelines (North).
The reform of nuclear safety, added by the government via a simple amendment, arouses the ire of the unions of the IRSN as well as the ASN, the left, and protests even in the majority. The Institute’s interunion is organizing a new day of strike on Monday. This “merger” project is “incomprehensible”, denounce the deputies of the left-wing coalition Nupes, who consider “essential to maintain independence between the regulatory function (ASN) and that of expertise (IRSN)”.
The arguments for and against nuclear power
The government is counting on the traditional right-wing support for the atom to pass the first reading without too much difficulty. The opponents of nuclear power, EELV and LFI, intend to rely on two recent events to inflame the debate: the “important” crack revealed in the piping of a reactor at the Penly power plant (Seine-Maritime), and the announced disappearance of the IRSN that the executive wants to merge into the ASN, the gendarme of the plants. However, support for nuclear power has clearly gained ground in opinion polls, in the midst of the energy crisis. The rapporteur Maud Bregeon pleads for no more shameful nuclear power because it will allow us to reach carbon neutrality and a better energy sovereignty.
Opponents of this energy strategy do not hide their dissatisfaction with the government’s approach, which they consider to be a “salami slicing” of energy texts. Greenpeace, the anti-nuclear NGO, believes that the bill is not viable and recently accused the French nuclear industry of being “under Russian control”, due to the continued delivery of Russian reprocessed uranium and imports of natural uranium from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The French nuclear fleet: reactor closures cancelled and a decreasing proportion
France had originally planned to shut down 14 of its 58 reactors in 2015, but President Emmanuel Macron announced a reversal in favor of reviving nuclear power. However, the proportion of nuclear energy in electricity production is decreasing. It was about 70% in normal times, but due to corrosion shutdowns and low availability of the nuclear fleet, this proportion is only 63% in 2022. A third, more political bill, the multi-year program, is expected this summer to set targets for each energy source. This energy issue is therefore far from being resolved, and the debates are likely to be stormy in the National Assembly.
