France is known for being a hotbed of culture, gastronomy and style. The country is also a world leader in another area: nuclear energy.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, France is home to 56 operational nuclear reactors, the second only after the United States, which has 94.
Together, these French installations have a combined capacity of 61,370 megawatts (MW). And when it comes to the nuclear share in French electricity production, the IAEA says it was 70.6% in 2019, the highest in the world.
Below, CNBC’s “Sustainable Energy” takes a look at the role that nuclear could play in the energy future of both France and the world.
An important player
Peter Osbaldstone, research director of the Wood Mackenzie research group, told CNBC via email that France is “by far the largest nuclear power generator in Europe.”
“The intensity of French energy emissions is lower than its major neighbors, with the market having a relatively small share of the global supply of fossil fuels,” he continued.
“Given that low-cost nuclear power is so important in the mix, wholesale energy prices in France tend to be lower than in neighboring markets,” he added, noting that this factor has also influenced prices for users. final, relatively low.
Andrew Lever, director of the Carbon Trust, a consulting firm, told CNBC that France “enjoyed a low reliance on fossil-based power generation.”
“Therefore, from a carbon reduction perspective, it starts from a lower base point than other economies that are more dependent on fossil fuel generation,” he added.
Macron’s mission
In December last year, French President Emmanuel Macron signaled that nuclear power would continue to play an important role in the country’s energy mix.
According to a translation of his remarks published by Reuters, Macron said that the French nuclear industry will “remain the cornerstone of our strategic autonomy.”
Macron’s comments suggest that France will continue its relationship with nuclear energy for a long time to come, but the change is still in full swing. Indeed, by 2035 the government wants to reduce the share of nuclear energy in its electricity mix to 50%. A mixed picture, then.
For his part, Osbaldstone of Wood Mackenzie said the 50% target does not mean the technology has fallen entirely in his favor, noting that in 2019 the French government “instructed EDF to explore the possibility of building six new reactors on three locations”. The utility, he added, “was to respond by mid-2021.”
The challenges of decarbonisation
The International Energy Agency states that “nuclear energy has historically been one of the largest contributors to carbon-free electricity globally” and adds that it also has “significant potential to contribute to the decarbonisation of the energy sector”.
However, it should be noted that, although the AIE says that it produces carbon-free electricity, many consider nuclear power to be a non-renewable source. This is because they claim that uranium, the crucial metal for nuclear power generation, will eventually be depleted.
Lever Carbon Trust 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 solar photovoltaic and onshore and offshore wind, has enjoyed a “substantial reduction,” the same could not be said for the “new nuclear power plants” where “there has been a constant lack of costs ”.
“From a new construction perspective, there are risks of construction delays and cost management, which in turn pose risks to transition costs and, ultimately, energy costs to consumers,” Lever said.
“In addition, the high potential costs of decommissioning and disposal are a key risk in the future for nuclear to become a relatively expensive and unsustainable technology compared to renewable alternatives.”
France seems to have a close relationship with nuclear energy in the future, but its neighbor, Germany, is taking a different path.
In response to the 2011 Fukushima disaster, when a strong earthquake and tsunami resulted in a meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has developed plans to shut down the country’s nuclear power plants by the end of 2022.
Just 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 billion) for the closure of their nuclear power plants.
Criticisms and concerns
While Macron seems to support nuclear, it goes without saying that technology is not favored by everyone.
Critics include Greenpeace. “Nuclear energy is promoted as a solution to our energy problems, but in reality it is complex and extremely expensive to build,” reads the environmental organization’s website.
“It also creates huge amounts of hazardous waste,” he added. “Renewable energy is cheaper and can be installed quickly. Together with battery storage, it can generate the power we need and reduce our emissions.”
The global picture
As governments around the world seek to move away from fossil fuels and to renewable energy sources, the debate over the role of nuclear energy in the planet’s energy mix will continue.
Just last month, Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder and billionaire, told Andrew Ross Sorkin of CNBC that nuclear power would be “absolutely” politically acceptable again. Gates is also the founder and president of TerraPower, a company focused on nuclear innovation.
Is it then possible to switch from fossil fuels to nuclear-free renewables?
“Any low-emission source, such as nuclear, can, of course, play a role in the energy transition,” said Osbaldstone of Wood Mackenzie, before outlining some of the challenges ahead.
“However, 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 “usually large and relatively inflexible in operation – these features reduce the number of applications. possible for nuclear. “
New technology, including small modular reactors or SMRs, “could contribute to some extent to addressing these shortcomings, potentially opening up a larger role for the source. But SMRs remain very much on the drawing board at the moment.” .