The decree confirming the total and final shutdown of the reactors at the Fessenheim nuclear power plant before the end of June 2020 and signed by Édouard Philippe and the Minister for Ecological Transition Élisabeth Borne, was published on Wednesday 19 February in the Official Journal. It paves the way for the definitive shutdown of reactor no. 1 on Saturday, a first step on the long road to dismantling.
"This event, announced and repeatedly postponed by previous governments, (...) constitutes a first step in France's energy strategy, which aims to gradually rebalance between nuclear electricity and electricity from France. "renewable origin while continuing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity production thanks to the closure of coal-fired power plants by 2022", welcomed Matignon in a press release.
"The State is not there"
The Prime Minister also praised "the spirit of responsibility of EDF and its union organizations, mobilized to provide the best possible social support for all the employees concerned".
The deputy LR of the Haut-Rhin Raphaël Schellenberger, president of a fact-finding mission on the follow-up of the closing of the site, however estimated Tuesday that the State was "not with go" and alerted on " consequences for the territory ". With the shutdown of the power plant, Raphaël Schellenberger also pointed to the elimination of "more than 2,000 jobs" direct or indirect, the impact on businesses or real estate.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Ecological Transition Elisabeth Borne assured that the closure will not cause "any loss of employment". "We have made sure with EDF that all employees of the plant will find a job. [...]
EDF employees will all be reclassified, there will be special support for subcontractors and also a
support for traders. "
A power plant that has become the symbol of all the dangers of the atom
Commissioned in 1977, the dean of the French power plants in operation will have known six presidents of the Republic, from Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to Emmanuel Macron, via François Hollande, who sealed his fate by promising to close it in 2011, but also hunger strikes and countless demonstrations by opponents.
Built on the border between France and Germany, not far from Switzerland, the plant has become the symbol of all the dangers of the atom for the anti-nuclear weapons of the three countries, which have not stopped coming up, aging which would complicate the replacement of certain parts, a situation below the Grand Canal of Alsace and in a region with proven seismicity. Critics who intensified after the Fukushima disaster in March 2011 in Japan.
Conversely, voices denounce the absurdity of depriving yourself of this carbon-free source of energy when France set itself the goal of carbon neutrality in 2050.
>> Read: With 58 reactors, the French nuclear fleet is the second in the world
In a French landscape where nuclear power plants provide 70% of energy production - by far the highest proportion in the world, with the second largest nuclear fleet in the world behind the United States - a reactor like those of Fessenheim produced in average each month the equivalent of the consumption of 400,000 homes, according to EDF. The closure is part of the government's plan to reduce the share of nuclear power from 75% to 50% in the country's electricity production by 2035.
The soft shutdown of the 900 megawatt (MW) pressurized water reactor will start at 8:30 p.m. Friday, according to a procedure identical to that used during the maintenance phases. The temperature and pressure, which reach 306.5 ° C and 155 bars at full power, will gradually decrease in the primary circuit of the reactor and, when the reactor reaches 8% of its power, it will be disconnected from the national electricity network ", explains EDF: Reactor n ° 1 will therefore be shutdown at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, followed by reactor n ° 2 on June 30.
With AFP and Reuters
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