A new law in sight to facilitate the construction of new reactors. After the session of questions to the government, the deputies will vote on Tuesday on a bill to revive nuclear power, largely validated in the Senate a week ago.
Its adoption should not be a problem. At first reading, the Assembly had largely supported it by a coalition of votes from the presidential majority, LR, RN and communists. Technical, the bill simplifies the process in order to achieve Emmanuel Macron’s ambition to build six new EPR reactors by 2035, and to launch studies for eight others.
It is limited to new installations located in existing nuclear sites or nearby, such as Penly (Seine-Maritime), Gravelines (North)… In the wake of the Senate, parliamentarians lifted a “lock” introduced in 2015 under François Hollande . The text thus removes the objective of a 50% reduction in the share of nuclear energy in the French electricity mix by 2035.
Greenpeace steps up
To the chagrin of opponents of nuclear power, he is thus speeding up the future multi-annual energy programming law, expected at best this summer. Greenpeace NGO and the Nuclear Exit network did not fail to protest: “The government is therefore putting the cart before the horse and is launching a forced march” of nuclear power, they denounce.
Another sensitive point, the text toughens the penalties in the event of intrusion into the power stations, with a penalty increased to one to two years in prison and a fine of 15,000 to 30,000 euros. At the Assembly, environmentalists and LFI railed against the bill, insisting on the “dangerousness” of nuclear power, its “tons of waste”, and on the major crack in an emergency circuit of a Penly reactor, announced in early March.
They are the only ones to campaign for an exit from the atom and the transition to 100% renewable energies from 2045. But twelve years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the ecologists recognize that they have lost ground in their ” cultural battle” against the atom, like the polls which show growing support for nuclear energy.