2024-03-25 19:30:00
The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire called on the EDF group on Monday in the executive committee to mobilize “all the necessary human and technical resources” to carry out the new nuclear reactor program “within the set costs and deadlines”. “We have embarked on the largest industrial project in Europe for several decades with the construction of six new nuclear reactors. We want this new major project to be a success,” the minister underlined in particular in front of the group’s senior executives, according to comments transmitted by his office.
After the recent announcement of delays and soaring costs, Bruno Le Maire was invited for the first time to the group’s executive committee, a meeting which lasted around 2 hours. The opportunity to recall the priorities entrusted to the group which returned 100% to the State in June 2023: extending the lifespan of its aging power plants and increasing electricity production while carrying out the nuclear recovery program desired by the government with the construction of six new EPR2 type reactors, followed by eight others.
“Mobilize all human and technical resources”
“EDF must mobilize all the human and technical resources necessary to carry out this industrial project within the set costs and deadlines,” repeated the minister, regarding the new EPR2. “I provide all my support to the management and employees of EDF in carrying out this program,” he added. The minister had already called the group to order at the beginning of March after the announcement of delays in the design of the first EPR2 and a forecast increase in costs of around 30%.
According to information from the newspaper Les Échos revealed on March 4, the estimated cost of the construction program for the first six reactors planned at Penly, Gravelines and Bugey is now estimated at 67.4 billion instead of the 51.7 billion initially announced in February. 2022. According to the daily, this new estimate – still provisional – takes into account in particular the increase in engineering costs while the group is 9 months late in finalizing the generic design plans for its EPR2, which are now expected this summer instead of fall 2023.
EDF then indicated that it was “currently in a phase of optimizing costs and planning”, regarding this new costing which could evolve. Officially, the schedule still provides for the commissioning of the first EPR2 at Penly (Seine-Maritime) by 2035-2037. The minister, who is expected to attend other meetings of this type, indicated that he would follow “very regularly the implementation of the project” in conjunction with the interministerial delegation for New Nuclear.
1711409799
#Mayor #urges #EDF #mobilize #resources