The EDF group said Thursday it was "relatively confident" in its ability to produce enough electricity in France this winter, even if the situation looks "tense" from November.
The early onset of cold was particularly feared by the RTE manager.
"At this stage, we are relatively confident", declared Thursday during a press conference of EDF Cédric Lewandowski, director of the nuclear and thermal park of the group.
EDF should be able to produce enough electricity for the winter.
"Without lying to us, we will be in a relatively tense situation from November. However, we continue to record reactor returns in a very satisfactory manner," he continued.
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"Today, 38 reactors are running, our objective is of course to increase this level and to approach 42 or 43 reactors in November, that is to say at the time of the first cold. And we would then be in a fairly standard average of the operation of the nuclear fleet in recent years ", detailed Cédric Lewandowski.
The fear of "high tension" in early cold
The manager of the high voltage network RTE indicated in mid-September that the season will be marked in particular by "a probability of high voltage at the end of November - beginning of December in the event of early cold".
"At this time, the return of the nuclear reactors from Flamanville will be particularly followed, both for the national and local balance in the great West", specified the company.
The two reactors at the EDF plant located in the Channel are currently shut down due to a ten-yearly outage for one and technical problems for the other.
Their restart is theoretically scheduled for November for one and December for the second.
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The electrician unveiled this Thursday 25 commitments as part of his Excell plan, which is supposed to learn from the setbacks of the EPR under construction in Flamanville.
In this regard, the impact of the health crisis on the Flamanville site "for the moment is quite moderate, obviously pending what will happen in the coming months", explained the director of the engineering and "new nuclear" projects of EDF Xavier Ursat.
The work of the two Hinkley Point reactors in England has meanwhile "been a little slowed down by the health crisis. Today things are practically back to normal", commented for his part the CEO of EDF Jean- Bernard Lévy.