ARIS — Steam plumes towered over two reactors at the Chinon nuclear power facility in France's lush Loire Valley recently. However, the skies over a third reactor in the area were unusually clear, as its activities had been halted following the alarming discovery of cooling system cracks.
This isn't the first time a partial shutdown has occurred: As a maelstrom of unanticipated difficulties gathers around the nation's state-backed nuclear power operator, Électricité de France, or EDF, over half of France's atomic fleet, the largest in Europe, has been taken offline.As the European Union tries to cut connections with Russia over its war in Ukraine, France has been relying on its nuclear power reactors to get through an impending energy crisis. Nuclear power generates around 70% of France's electricity, more than any other country on the planet.
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However, the sector is facing a historic power shortage as EDF deals with issues ranging from the unexpected onset of stress corrosion inside nuclear plants to a hotter environment that makes cooling the older reactors more difficult.
Outages at EDF, Europe's largest electricity exporter, have pushed France's nuclear power output to its lowest level in nearly 30 years, driving up electric bills at a time when the war in Ukraine is fueling broader inflation. Rather than pumping massive amounts of electricity to Britain, Italy, and other European countries reliant on Russian oil, France faces the disturbing prospect of having to import power this winter.EDF, which is already $45 billion in debt, is also vulnerable to a recent contract involving Rosatom, the Russian state-owned nuclear power corporation, which could cause additional financial hardship for the French company. President Emmanuel Macron's cabinet has intimated that EDF may need to be nationalized as a result of the problems.
"We can't rule that out," Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said on Tuesday. "We're going to have to put a lot of money into EDF."
The deadline could not have come at a more inconvenient time. Oil prices soared to new highs after the European Union agreed to shut off Russian oil, exacerbating Europe's economic woes and exacerbating a cost-of-living issue that France and other countries are grappling with. Natural gas prices have also risen, which France uses to compensate for swings in nuclear-powered electricity.As Russia's aggression reshapes Europe's energy priorities, proponents of nuclear energy argue that it may help bridge the continent's fuel shortfall, complementing a move already happening to adapt wind, solar, and other renewable energy to meet ambitious climate-change goals.
However, resolving the EDF situation will not be simple.
After the United States, France has the second-largest nuclear fleet, with 56 reactors. Nuclear power generates a quarter of Europe's electricity, with France accounting for more than half of the total.However, the French nuclear sector, which was primarily established in the 1980s, has been hampered by a lack of new investment for decades. According to experts, it has lost critical engineering skills as employees have retired or moved on, affecting EDF's ability to maintain existing power plants — or develop new ones to replace them.
"The EDF's policy, which was backed by the government, was to postpone reinvestment and system transformation," said Yves Marignac, a nuclear energy expert at négaWatt, a Paris-based think tank. "The more the EDF delays, the more skills are lost, technical issues mount, and a snowball effect occurs."
Mr. Macron has unveiled a plan to revive France's nuclear program worth €51.7 billion. By 2035, EDF plans to build the first of up to 14 massive next-generation pressurized water reactors, as well as smaller nuclear plants, as part of a larger drive to strengthen France's energy independence and achieve climate goals.
However, EDF's few new nuclear reactors have been plagued by massive cost overruns and delays. An EDF-built pressurized water reactor at Hinkley Point in southwest England won't start up until 2027, four years late and too late to aid Britain's rapid transition away from Russian oil and gas. The newest EDF nuclear power station in Finland, which began operations last month, was expected to be finished in 2009.The EDF's recent difficulties began just before Russia invaded Ukraine. As it fought to make up with a two-year backlog in essential maintenance for dozens of elderly reactors that was put off during coronavirus lockdowns, the firm warned last winter that it could no longer produce a consistent nuclear power supply.
Alarming safety flaws were discovered during inspections, including corrosion and defective welding seals on critical systems needed to cool a reactor's radioactive core. That was the situation at France's oldest nuclear power plant, Chinon, which generates 6% of EDF's nuclear power.
EDF is currently inspecting all of its nuclear sites for such issues. A dozen reactors will be shut down for months or years to allow for corrosion checks and repairs. Another 16 are still being reviewed and upgraded.
Others are reducing power generation due to climate change concerns: rivers in the south of France, such as the Rhône and the Gironde, are warming earlier each year, with temperatures in the spring and summer that are too hot to cool reactors.
Today, French nuclear power generation is at its lowest level since 1993, generating less than half of the fleet's total capacity of 61.4 gigawatts. (EDF also uses renewable energy, gas, and coal to generate electricity.) Even if several reactors restart in the summer, French nuclear output this winter will be 25% lower than usual, posing a serious threat.
"We will either have to go to blackouts or revert to carbon-emitting energy, which is coal or natural gas, if you have power plants that are operating well below capacity," said Thierry Bros, an energy specialist and professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
The conflict has been exacerbated by the government, which controls 84 percent of EDF. Last winter, as market electricity costs approached €500 per megawatt-hour, Mr. Macron ordered EDF to raise the amount of power it sells to third-party providers at a capped price of just €46 per megawatt-hour, fulfilling a campaign promise to protect French consumers from inflation.
However, in order to maintain its power supply while dozens of nuclear units are down, EDF has been obliged to purchase electricity on the open market at exorbitant costs, at a cost of more than €10 billion this year. Jean-Bernard Lévy, the EDF's feisty chief executive, was so enraged by the move that he submitted an official appeal to the government.
In February, as the upheaval grew, the French government gave EDF a €2 billion lifeline. But that isn't nearly enough to tackle the country's problems.
A government-backed contract tied to Rosatom, a longtime consumer of EDF components and the largest buyer of powerful French-made Arabelle steam turbines, which are present in both Rosatom and EDF nuclear stations, also poses a risk to the debt-laden firm.
Despite the war, France has continued to conduct business with Russia in the nuclear energy sector, which is free from European Union sanctions. Mr. Macron endorsed a deal in February for EDF to buy General Electric's Arabelle turbine division for €1.1 billion, returning the manufacturing firm to French hands after G.E. bought it from Alstom in 2015.
EDF is now demanding a reduced price for the transaction, fearing that Rosatom's business will suffer as a result of Finland's cancellation of Rosatom contracts for new nuclear facilities last month. EDF might see a drop in turbine orders and new losses if Rosatom has additional cancellations or construction delays in other countries.
According to JPMorgan Chase, the best way for the French nuclear industry to recover is to continue to the plan of building a fleet of new nuclear facilities
"If anything, the current crisis legitimizes this initiative and the desire to re-regulate or nationalize EDF's nuclear fleet more than ever – for France and its European allies," the bank added.
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