"We will, for the first time in decades, relaunch the construction of nuclear reactors in our country and continue to develop renewable energies," he said in a televised address.

However, he did not give more details at this stage on the schedule or on the type of reactor envisaged or the location of the installations.

This "to guarantee the energy independence of France, to guarantee the electricity supply of our country and to achieve our objectives, in particular carbon neutrality in 2050", he argued.

France, which derives the majority of its electricity from nuclear power, is currently building only one new nuclear reactor, the Flamanville EPR (Manche), the work of which began in 2007 has still not been completed after many delays and additional costs. .

But it plans to build six additional EPRs and EDF submitted a file to the government in the spring on the feasibility and conditions of such a program.

President Macron also recently announced investments in future small reactors (SMR), but whose horizon is more distant than that of the EPR, copies of which are already in service in China.

Nuclear power is one of the themes of the pre-presidential campaign of 2022, some candidates advocating a more or less rapid exit (environmentalists or rebels) while others (especially on the right and the far right but also on the Communist Party) are in favor of this energy.

A demonstration against nuclear power in Paris on March 11, 2021 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima accident in Japan Thomas SAMSON AFP / Archives

"If we want to pay for our energy at reasonable rates and not depend on foreign countries, we must both continue to save energy and invest in the production of carbon-free energy on our soil", said Emmanuel Macron.

"These investments will allow us to live up to our commitments when we close the COP 26 in Glasgow", he assured, after having already underlined the advantages of nuclear energy in recent months, in particular from a climatic point of view.

His remarks also come in the midst of soaring energy prices in Europe.

"Unbelievable"

The RTE electricity network manager recently presented a much-awaited report on France's electricity future, which notably underlined the economic advantage of building new reactors but also the need to take rapid decisions.

This publication had encouraged the executive to accelerate its schedule, while decisions on nuclear power had until then been postponed after the start of Flamanville - expected at the end of 2022, therefore during the next five-year term.

"RTE tells us that we must act quickly, so the decision will be taken and quickly", underlined at the end of October the Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, paving the way for announcements by the end of the year .

EDF, which has implemented an improvement plan after the excesses of the Flamanville site, still assured Monday that the sector "will be ready" and could deliver new EPRs in compliance with costs and schedule.

In addition to the industrial challenge, the Court of Auditors underlined last year the "major" financial stake of such a program, quantifying the construction cost of six new generation EPRs (EPR2) at 46 billion euros.

A general view of the construction site of the new generation EPR in Flamanville, in the English Channel, July 16, 2013 CHARLY TRIBALLEAU AFP / Archives

"The announcement of the nuclear revival was certainly predictable, but it is incredible, and almost illegal in form, a national debate being necessary," criticized the environmental deputy Matthieu Orphelin on Tuesday.

"Announcing a revival of nuclear power and the construction of new reactors while the nuclear industry is chaining up fiascos is totally disconnected from reality", for his part judged Nicolas Nace, from the NGO Greenpeace, who denounces a "democratic denial" .

© 2021 AFP