The bill on the simplification of administrative procedures to build new nuclear reactors, which will be the subject of a solemn vote in the Senate, Tuesday, January 24, intends to “maintain the share of nuclear power in electricity production more than 50 % by 2050 “.
by Adrien Pécout
The inconstancy of the state on nuclear power could hold in a percentage. Reduce to 50 % the share of the atom in electricity production in France (against another 69 % in 2021 and 75 % a decade ago): this was one of the sixty electoral commitments of the candidate François Hollande Presidential of 2012. Commitment made from the socialist primary of October 2011, then sealed, a month later, in an agreement with the environmentalists, with a view to the legislative elections. A promise engraved, then, in the marble of the law, first “by 2025”, during the five -year term of Mr. Hollande – in 2015. Then, finally, “by 2035”, during the First term of Emmanuel Macron – since 2019.
rather vague, by definition. “As in other laws, this measure mainly has a declarative value. The horizon, when we approach it, it moves away,” quips a close friend of the former socialist government. After “Pragmatic Expertise”, this percentage, “brandished as a political totem”, turns out to be “unattainable” in 2025, admitted the current Head of State, in November 2018, on the occasion of a speech on The ecological transition.
First rejected by a decade, the “totem” is seen, even though, abused today, until risking erasure. A sign of the return in grace of the atom, already interpret its detractors. Without, however, that it necessarily makes the objective of lesing the nuclear place in the electric bouquet; All this will also depend on the capacity of the State to fill or not its delay in wind and solar.
of floor ceiling
The question comes back these days earlier than expected, at the bend of the bill on the simplification of administrative procedures to build new nuclear reactors, which will be the subject of a solemn vote in the Senate, Tuesday, January 24 . Modified by an amendment to the senatorial right, the text now plans to change the energy code. No more design to restrict the place of the atom by 2035, it would now be a question of “maintaining the share of nuclear power in the production of electricity more than 50 % by 2050”. A way to transform the ceiling … into a floor.
According to the Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, any decision of this order would be premature. However, the government itself proposed to erase the mention of the 50 %. Rejected by the Senate, on January 17, the executive amendment intended to insert a more vague objective, that of “diversifying the electric mix, aimed at a better balance between nuclear and renewable energies”. For some observers, this proposal was mainly of the political game before the transition to the National Assembly, a way of reconciling the good graces of deputies favorable to the atom – in particular on the right.
You have 71.13% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.