The final hours of the French nuclear power plant at Fessenheim

Text by: Simon Rozé Follow

43 years after its commissioning, the switch is closed. From 11:30 p.m. on Monday, June 29, the second reactor at the Fessenheim nuclear power plant will be shut down; the first was on February 22.

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This is the end of a long soap opera: it was in 2012 that François Hollande, candidate for the presidential election, promised the closure of the Fessenheim plant . Originally, this off-grid was to be done in parallel with the start-up of the EPR at Flamanville, to keep electricity production constant. But it was so late that the extinction of Fessenheim will take place while the Norman installation is still under construction.

A promise by François Hollande, taken up by Emmanuel Macron

Fessenheim was the doyenne of French nuclear power plants, which was criticized by his opponents. Despite everything, it remains in good condition: the Nuclear Safety Authority, the gendarme of the sector in France, declared it fit for service for a few more years, even believing that its safety is among the best in French fleet.

But over the years, the issue of closing the facility has become a political issue. The promise of François Hollande was taken up by Emmanuel Macron and the ecologists make it a totem, in the continuation of a general tendency aiming to decrease the share of nuclear power in the French electric mix.

Concretely, Fessenheim represented 1,800 MW of installed electrical power: enough to supply 1.5% of French production and 88% of Alsatian consumption. The rest of the French fleet will compensate for part of the production loss, but for the rest it will be necessary to source elsewhere, mainly in Germany. This is where the paradox for environmentalists lies, because this is bad news for the climate.

After the Fukushima disaster , Berlin decided to withdraw from nuclear power. But having not yet installed sufficient means of production of renewable energy, the country will therefore burn more gas and coal and see take off its greenhouse gas emissions. A nuclear power plant does not emit CO2. The nuclear cycle as a whole, from the extraction of ore to dismantling, is also as emitter of greenhouse gases as wind.

Halftone closure

The same effects have the same effects: with the closure of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant with no carbon-free alternative installed, it will be necessary to call on dirty German electricity. The range is wide, but this should generate between 6 and 12 million tonnes of carbon equivalent in the atmosphere. Consequently, from a strict point of view in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the shutdown of the two reactors at the Fessenheim plant is bad news.

Concretely, at 11:30 p.m. this Monday, June 29, a team will slowly lower the power of the reactor. Three and a half hours later, when it is only 8% of its capacity, it will then be disconnected from the electricity network. The same maneuver was carried out to shut down the first Fessenheim reactor . Then comes the time of dismantling, unprecedented in France for such an installation.

However, the country has experience in dismantling other nuclear infrastructure, such as research reactors. For Fessenheim, the spent fuel must then be removed. The operation will take a few years before decommissioning itself begins in 2025. It should then last fifteen years.

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• Nuclear
• France
• Francois Hollande
• Emmanuel Macron
• Environment