"This is good news because it means that we are recovering under the French flag nuclear skills over the entire cycle, in particular on these turbines which are technological marvels and which are necessary to manufacture nuclear power plants", a- she said, referring to the Arabelle turbines manufactured in Belfort by General Electric.
After several months of negotiations between the American group and the French electrician, the board of directors of EDF took a step on Monday towards a purchase of the nuclear activities of General Electric.
Barbara Pompili underlined that seven years after the controversial takeover of Alstom's energy branch by GE, then promoted by the Minister of the Economy Emmanuel Macron, "we were not at all in the same sequence".
At the time, "we had not committed to a very strong decarbonization of the economy, which is a game-changer for nuclear", and "Alstom was in difficulty".
Today, "it makes sense to bring these turbines back into the hands of EDF", she further indicated.
Speaking on France Inter, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire insisted on France's "massive reinvestments" in the nuclear sector.
"Today, we have Orano, public control, for fuels, the same thing with Framatome on the tanks, the same thing now with EDF on the realization, including with the Arabelle turbines which will come back under the control of EDF", did he declare.
While EDF again lowered its nuclear production for this year on Monday, following corrosion problems affecting the safety system of certain reactors, Barbara Pompili also assured that there was "no risk of generalized blackout in France by the end of winter.
"I reassure everyone, there is no risk of a blackout in France because we have put in place a number of mechanisms to avoid this," she said.
© 2022 AFP