Energy: No, the maintenance of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant would not have been enough to solve the crisis!
Viral posts call into question the closure of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant in 2020, which would have promoted "a shortage" while the country is experiencing an energy crisis.
While the government is increasing calls for energy sobriety and the megawatt-hour market price is exploding, the closure of nuclear power plants has returned to the debate. Viral tweets have thus criticized the policy pursued during Emmanuel Macron's first five-year term, when Elisabeth Borne was Minister of Ecological Transition.
Recalling that she had implemented the closure of the Fessenheim power plant in 2020, Stéphane Ravier, a Reconquest senator, attacked the one who has since been Prime Minister. According to him, she would have "organized the rampage of the nuclear park" and would now come "whining" by calling on companies to be sober.
Fessenheim nuclear power plant
For Marc Dubief, deputy mayor of Bron (LR), Emmanuel Macron is the first responsible. "The #Rationing is him! A historical fault", he denounces, referring to the closure of Fessenheim and the desire to close "14 others".
Laurent Alexandre, the media surgeon, was angry on RTL on August 29th. He said he was "deeply outraged" by Elisabeth Borne's comments about energy sobriety. "After organizing the energy shortage in France, [...] he says, she should have started by asking the French for forgiveness for having closed nuclear power plants, energy that today is sorely lacking in the country. »
Could the energy crisis have been avoided if the Fessenheim nuclear power plant had not been closed? No, the experts we interviewed answer. It should also be remembered that only the Fessenheim nuclear power plant is closed; the first reactor was shut down in February 2020, and the second at the end of June 2020, the site being in pre-decommissioning. The multiannual energy programme (PPE) 2019-2028 also provides for the closure of 14 reactors, and not 14 power plants, before 2035.
Fessenheim nuclear power plant details
But in his speech in Belfort, in February 2022, Emmanuel Macron defended the extension of "all the reactors that can be", beyond 50 years if possible, ie after 2035. It had also announced that it wanted to build six new EPR reactors in France.
"Not to have closed Fessenheim would go in the right direction, believes François-Marie Breon, physicist, climatologist and supporter of nuclear power in the fight against global warming. But we must not let it be believed that we would not have problems if we had left Fessenheim open, that would be a big lie. »
He points out that the power that is likely to be lacking is "very much higher" than what Fessenheim could provide at best, i.e. 1.8 GW of installed power with its two reactors. "It would still be 1.8 GW less to find, but with the nuclear fleet today, we are between 10 or 20 GW less than usual". At the end of last week, 32 out of 56 nuclear reactors were shut down. The reason: corrosion problems affect 12 reactors and the maintenance schedule of the fleet has been delayed by Covid-19. Tensions are feared this winter, with the fear of temporary electricity (or gas) cuts in the event of a cold snap.
Fessenheim nuclear power plant facts
"Keeping Fessenheim in operation would reduce the pressure a little, but would not be able to avoid the crisis at all," agrees Yves Marignac, head of the nuclear and fossil energy division of the négaWatt Institute, which supports the use of renewable energies in the energy transition. He adds that the extension of Fessenheim would have required significant work to align with post-Fukushima requirements, "additional costs that EDF may not have been ready to assume," he points out.
Yves Marignac puts forward another argument: the delay taken by France to respect the 2030 trajectory of renewable energy development in the European Union. According to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, they accounted for 19.1% of final energy consumption in 2020. However, the target was set at 23%. This delay represents "at least four times the production that Fessenheim could produce today," he emphasizes. "And the unactivated potentials in terms of efficiency and sobriety are at least ten times higher than Fessenheim's production," he argues again. He sees, in these positions, a "nostalgia for the nuclear whole next to the plate in relation to the stakes".
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