France is known for being the birthplace of culture, gastronomy and style. The country is also a world leader in another field: nuclear power.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, there are 56 nuclear power reactors in operation in France, according to the United States alone, which have 94.
Together, these French facilities have a combined capacity of 61,370 megawatts (MW). And in terms of the core share in French electricity production, the IAEA says it was 70.6% in 2019, the highest in the world.
CNBC’s “Sustainable Energy” then takes a look at the role that the core could play in the energy future of both France and the world at large.
An important player
Peter Osbaldstone, research director of the Wood Mackenzie research group, told CNBC via email that France was “by far the largest nuclear power generator in Europe.”
“The intensity of French energy emissions is lower than that of its main neighbors, as the market has a relatively small share of the global supply that fossil fuels meet,” he went on to explain.
“Because the low-cost marginal core is so prominent in the mix, French wholesale energy prices are also often lower than in neighboring markets,” he added, noting that this factor also influenced users’ prices. endings, which were also comparatively low.
Andrew Lever, director of the Carbon Trust, an advisory firm, told CNBC that France had “enjoyed a low dependence on fossil-based power generation.”
“So from a carbon reduction perspective, it starts from a lower base point compared to other economies that are more dependent on fossil fuel-based generation,” he added.
Macron’s mission
Last December, French President Emmanuel Macron noted that nuclear would continue to play an important role in the country’s energy mix.
According to a translation of his comments published by Reuters, Macron said the French nuclear industry “would remain the cornerstone of our strategic autonomy.”
Macron’s comments suggest that France will continue its relationship with nuclear power for a long time to come, but change is underway. In fact, in 2035 the government wants to reduce the share of nuclear energy in its electricity mix to 50%. A mixed image, then.
For his part, Osbaldstone, of Wood Mackenzie, said the 50% target did not mean the technology had fallen completely at a disadvantage, noting that in 2019 the French government had “instructed EDF to explore the possibility of building six new reactors at three sites “. The utility, he added, “had to respond by mid-2021.”
The challenges of decarbonization
The International Energy Agency states that “nuclear energy has historically been one of the largest contributors to carbon-free electricity worldwide” and adds that it also has “significant potential to contribute to the decarbonisation of the energy sector.” .
It should be noted, however, that while the IEA says it produces carbon-free electricity, many consider the core to be a non-renewable source. This is because they argue that uranium, the crucial metal for nuclear power generation, will eventually run out.
The Carbon Trust’s Lever told CNBC that for any economy the level of investment needed to decarbonize its energy supply was “massive”.
And while the cost of renewable technologies such as photovoltaic solar power and onshore and offshore wind had enjoyed a “substantial reduction”, the same could not be said for the “new nuclear power plants”, where there were “A lack of constant cost reduction.”
“From a new construction perspective, there are risks of delays in construction and cost management, which in turn pose risks to the cost of the transition and ultimately energy costs for consumers,” he said. Get up.
“In addition, the potentially high costs of dismantling and disposing of waste pose a key risk in the future that the core will become a relatively expensive and unsustainable technology in relation to renewable-based alternatives.”
France looks set to maintain a close relationship with nuclear power in the future, but its neighbor Germany is taking a different route.
In response to the 2011 Fukushima disaster, when a powerful earthquake and tsunami thawed Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government developed plans to shut down the country’s nuclear power plants in late 2022.
Last week, Reuters reported that Germany had agreed to pay four companies (Vattenfall, RWE, E.ON and EnBW) a total compensation of almost 2.6 billion euros (about $ 3.09 million) for the early closure of its plants nuclear.
Criticisms and concerns
While Macron seems to support nuclear, needless to say, the technology is not favored by everyone.
Critics include Greenpeace. “Nuclear power is presented as a solution to our energy problems, but in reality it is complex and hugely expensive to build,” the environmental organization’s website states.
“It also creates huge amounts of hazardous waste,” he adds. “Renewable energy is cheaper and can be installed quickly. Along with battery storage, it can generate the energy we need and reduce our emissions.”
The global picture
As governments around the world try to move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources, the debate over the role of nuclear power in the planet’s energy mix will continue.
Last month, Bill Gates, co-founder and billionaire of Microsoft, told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin that nuclear power would once again be “absolutely” politically acceptable. Gates is also the founder and president of TerraPower, a company focused on nuclear innovation.
Is it possible, then, for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy without nuclear power?
“Any low-emission source, such as nuclear, can, of course, play a role in the energy transition,” Wood Mackenzie’s Osbaldstone said, before continuing to outline some of the challenges of the future.
“While the costs of new nuclear construction are high, the technology requires strong political support and regulatory frameworks in the host countries,” he added, explaining that the generators were “typically large and relatively inflexible in operation: these features they reduce the number of possible applications for nuclear power. “
New technologies, including small modular reactors or SMRs, “could help address these shortcomings, which could open a larger role for the source. But SMRs remain very important at this time.”