The French President has announced that France would relaunch its nuclear program, with the construction of new EPR (European Pressurized Reactors) reactors. This follows an earlier announcement in October 2021 that €8bn (US$9.3bn) would be invested in the energy sector by 2030, focusing on the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), green hydrogen, and decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as steel or cement industries.
EDF is currently building its first 1,650 MW EPR in France in Flamanville (Flamanville-3). The Flamanville project was initially expected to be commissioned in 2013 (completion of construction in late 2012) at a cost of €3.3bn. In October 2019, EDF revised the construction schedule for the nuclear project and raised the estimated construction cost by €1.5bn to €12.4bn, due to technical problems. In December 2020, EDF selected the site of Penly in Seine-Maritime (north-western France) to host two possible future EPRs. In May 2021, EDF submitted a plan to the government on the feasibility of building six new EPRs.
The country has 56 PWR nuclear reactors totalling 61 GW on 18 sites. The first 880 MW PWR reactor at the Fessenheim plant was stopped in February 2020, while the second unit ended operations in June 2020. Nuclear power accounted for 66% of total generation in 2020.
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