Paris Perspective #39: France’s nuclear renaissance in a post-atomic age – Yves Marignac

In this edition of Paris Perspective, we look at energy transition, the future of France’s atomic energy grid and President Emmanuel Macron’s political promise of a nuclear renaissance.

One year ago, as President Macron was readying himself for the campaign trail that would lead to his re-election, he gave an address in the city of Belfort – an historically industrial town in eastern France – extolling the policies of a nuclear renaissance in France and an eventual €60 billion investment towards the building of six new EPR reactors.  

Interestingly, this great leap forward towards energy sustainability and self-reliance came before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which sparked a Europe-wide energy crisis as the flow of Russian gas into the continent was essentially cut off. 

For Yves Marignac, award-winning nuclear safety expert with the négaWatt Association, Macron's speech was less a campaign rally, more a political statement of intent by an incumbent president. 

"He turned his back on his promises from the previous campaign when he said he would stick to the objective of reducing French dependency on nuclear power," says Marignac, whose group advocates for energy sufficiency, efficiency and the use of renewable sources.

"The energy crisis is more acute in France because of the failure of the nuclear sector ... The conclusion that has been given is that we need more nuclear power and not less, which is a paradox."

According to Marignac, France's nuclear industry is in such bad shape that French safety authorities aren't convinced it can meet the objectives set by the president in a safe way.

"We are faced with evidence of failure – from an energy point of view – and an industrial point of view. But the decision is that we need more nuclear energy and that is what President Macron said.

"So we are bracing for new reactors, we are bracing for the life extension [of old reactors] that won't come in the short term. Life extension is something that will change the trajectory [of nuclear power] between the 2030s and 2040s and the new reactors won't come in line before 2035 at the very earliest," Marignac insists.

The nuclear specialist also laments the fact that Macron's policy speech is driving France away from short-term priorities like sufficiency and renewables that could be delivered much faster.

"The government changed its mind [on energy efficiency] last year due to the energy crisis – but just two years ago, Macron was comparing energy efficiency to  Amish societies and discarded any policy of that kind," Marignac explains. 

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Earlier this month Macron caused a stir with French opposition parties after convening his advisory council on nuclear policy while a public debate on the future of France’s energy production is ongoing, undercutting civic discussion on energy transition and how to achieve carbon neutrality.

So for the French government, is an open forum on the transition away from conventional energy production purely cosmetic?

"It is and unfortunately that's not new," says Marignac. "I often say that the French nuclear sector is too weak to dare to commit to a real democratic debate, but too strong to have to do it. We’ve seen that many times for decades and we see it again."

He believes that everything is stacked against the success of Macron's "nuclear renaissance plan", because France's nuclear industry is crippled.

Even so, warnings that France would face power outages and electricity rationing over the winter never came to pass. Indeed Macron scoffed at the idea of power cuts, rejecting such fears as "absurd". 

Yet despite the rickety state of France's nuclear power stations and previous scepticism towards energy sufficiency, it would appear that the message of being more frugal with power is getting through to the general population.

So are the French getting the bigger picture, although France itself has failed to reach its own targets on the development of renewable energy within the Cop21 Paris Climate Accord? 

According to Marignac, warmer weather has obviously played a part.

"There was a ten percent reduction in gas and electricity consumption, but you have to take into account the [milder] climate," he points out.

But there is a catch: "Part of it came from 'unchosen sufficiency', like people not being able to pay for the energy anymore."

More encouragingly, he says, "there was also a clear sign of positive sufficiency with people choosing to turn the heating down a bit, to drive less when it comes to fuel and to make small changes.

"I think this shows that when people understand that we are faced with this kind of structural crisis – be it climate urgency, energy security or sovereignty issues – they understand the interests and the benefits from sufficiency.

"I think this short-term experience really showed that people are much more open to make changes in consumption patterns than policymakers tend to think.

"When talking to people in the government or administration, I often have the feeling that they are lagging behind. The population's understanding of the kind of systemic change that we need to implement will provide a lot of benefits," Marignac concludes. 

So despite the promise of a renaissance for France's nuclear energy sector, it is the general public who are adapting faster to energy sustainability in a post-atomic world. 

Watch the full video here.

Written, produced and presented by David Coffey.

Recorded and edited by Vincent Pora.

Yves Marignac, award-winning nuclear safety expert and head of the Nuclear and Fossil Energies Unit of the négaWatt Association.