France increased nuclear energy production. It returns to the leading position in Europe

According to the energy think tank Ember, nuclear production in France increased by 14 percent last year compared to 2022, but still below previous highs. The main reasons are the ongoing work on the fleet reactors.

France will get 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power plants. Reuters stated that due to this fact, it is necessary that the fleet of nuclear reactors of the country remains in an operable condition and does not suffer new breakdowns in production. According to data from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the average number of French nuclear power plants has been in operation for around 36 years, and in this century they have not been put into operation on Nov.

Critical year 2022

Since 2022, the French nuclear power plants have been experiencing meltdowns that shut down the reactor or high temperatures, which were not usual, that limited cooling operations. At the same time, the employees of the nuclear sector applied for the first, and lengthy negotiations took place with them.

Problems with production were most pressing in 2022. At that time, the production of electricity from nuclear power plants fell by more than 22 percent compared to the previous year and was the lowest in the last 30 years.

French energy companies began to compensate for the sharp decline in the production of electricity from nuclear power by exporting natural gas and other energy fuels. This happened at a time when the regional gas markets were disrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A sharp increase in natural gas production in France has exacerbated the gas shortage experienced by Europe as a whole in 2022. He contributed to the fact that the prices of electronics on the old continent rose to a record level this year.

France in the wake of the nuclear renaissance

France does not hide its ambition to become the leader of the European nuclear renaissance. It is also for this reason that EDF’s own company has recently been involved in the new Czech nuclear program, in which the supply of the EPR1200 reactor reveals that it is a technology that is the only 100% Made in Europe technology.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in the course of his victory over the Czech Republic, supported the offer of the French company EDF in the Dukovany tender. The EDF company, along with the Korean KHNP, is one of the applicants for the construction of new reactors in R. At the Czech-French nuclear forum, which took place on March 5 in Prague, President Macron stated that nuclear power is a key tool for securing energy security in Europe and thus to one climate change.