The government is considering a "0% nuclear" energy plan and the Flamanville EPR, still under construction, should open, at best, ten years behind schedule: in the coming years, there will be no shortage of challenges for the first producer of electricity in France.

If the group Electricity of France (EDF), will supply "all the sites of Paris 2024 in renewable energies", all is not however rosy on the side of the first supplier of electricity in Europe. Several points are to be reviewed on its copy in the coming years, especially around the construction of new nuclear power plants in France, including that of Flamanville.

>> READ ALSO - INVESTIGATION - Will the Flamanville EPR be born?

The Flamanville EPR, EDF's black spot

Because for EDF, the main challenge remains the opening, finally, the EPR of Flamanville in Normandy. This new generation power plant connects setbacks, with in particular very complicated welds to redo. At best, the EPR will open in 2023 ... ten years late and a bill multiplied by almost four. Poor management that casts doubt on the ability of the giant French group to manage such projects.

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Delays and additional costs are also on the agenda of the gigantic EPR project in the United Kingdom. But the government has hit the table. "It is not acceptable for one of the most prestigious and strategic sectors for our country to experience so many difficulties," declared Minister of Economy Bruno le Maire in October 2019.

Detaching yourself from nuclear power?

There needs to be a clear plan, according to the executive, to revive the nuclear industry, without questioning the idea of ​​creating new EPRs in the years to come. Elisabeth Borne, Minister for the Ecological Transition, had also gone overhang from the CEO of EDF when the latter announced in October the construction of six nuclear reactors in the years to come.

One thing is certain: EDF may need new power plants, as many reactors will be dismantled in the coming years. Paradoxically, the group's other major challenge for the next few years is to gradually detach itself from nuclear power: to show that it can become a giant in renewable energies.

>> Jean-Bernard Levy, Chairman and CEO of the EDF group is the guest of Europe 1 at 10 am in Le Grand Rendez-vous.