France Bringing Back Nuclear Energy Growth

French President Macron says with the electric car future, France must produce up to 60% more electricity than today and Nuclear Energy will be a big part of it.

1. The operation of all existing reactors will be extended without compromising safety.
2. Macron announced the launch of a programme of new reactors. They learned lessons from the cost overruns and delays with the EDF nuclear reactor. They have a new EPR2 reactor design. France will build at least six EPR2s and up to eight more EPR2s if all goes well.

Construction will begin by 2028 and the first reactor commissioned by 2035.

This could mean 25 Gigawatts of new nuclear in France by 2050.

The EPR-2 is an optimized version of the EPR reactor. EPR-2 has many similitudes with the EPR. It has the same power output (1670 MWe), an operating life of at least 60 years. Its constructibility has been improved. The double-walled containment building has been replaced by a containment building made of a very thick wall coated by a metallic liner.

Nuclear accounts for almost 75% of France’s power production, but former French president Francois Hollande had aimed to limit its share of the national electricity generation mix to 50% by 2025, and to close Fessenheim – the country’s oldest nuclear power plant – by the end of his five-year term, in May 2017.

SOURCES- World Nuclear News
Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.

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