Électricité de France (EDF) is France’s largest energy company. It’s owned for 84% by the state. France is now working towards completely nationalising the energy giant as they project losses in the dozens of billion of euro, 29B EUR to be specific.
By acquiring the remaining 16% of EDF, France will be able to make decisions with energy generation in mind first, as opposed to worrying about profits. This might include new reactor build-outs and quicker maintenance works.
EDF owns 56 nuclear reactors. More than half of those have been temporarily shut down for maintenance work this year. The situation is made worse by supply chain issues and the lack of labor forces, both of which have been hit by the unfortunate combination of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine. Adding to that the drought that France has experienced throughout the last summer, and the situation is not pretty for France’s nuclear sector.
France generates almost 75% of its energy from nuclear energy. This means they now have to become a net importer of energy during the worst energy crisis the continent has seen in decades. Even in the current situation, though, France is emitting less CO2 per Kw/h than its neighbours and even with over half of the reactors being down, it’s still in a better situation (energy-wise) than Germany is.
In an unfortunate situation as the current one, the image of nuclear energy is taking yet another hit by “activists” who were against nuclear to begin with. When you hear or read something from those people, please be reminded that the current issues are not the result of France choosing the wrong energy source. They are the result of years of mismanagement.
