PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2022) France will begin the construction of a new nuclear reactor at one of the existing nuclear power plants before 2027, Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Tuesday.
"I will present a bill that will speed up the construction of a new nuclear reactor at an existing nuclear power plant, where there are already nuclear reactors in operation," Pannier-Runacher told the Europe 1 radio.
The minister said that two more reactors could be built at the Brennilis NPP and another two could be built at Gravelines NPP. The construction should commence before 2027, Pannier-Runacher said, adding that building reactors on the sites of operating NPPs will save time on administrative procedures.
"This is a reasonable measure to gain time and guarantee the energy independence of our country," the minister said.
According to the French Le Figaro newspaper, the reactors will be the EPR-2 pressurized water reactor. In February, President Emmanuel Macron said that France commissioned the construction of six nuclear reactor from the the state-owned energy company EDF, the first of which are expected to begin operations by 2035.
France currently has 28 active nuclear reactors. On August 25, EDF postponed the launch of four out of 12 nuclear reactors that had been shut down for maintenance over corrosion in May. The energy company stated that, at the time, 32 out of 56 nuclear reactors in France remained shut down. Earlier in September, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that the government expected the state-owned energy company EDF to meet the deadlines for the repair of nuclear reactors.
Since 2021, energy prices in Europe have been growing as part of a global trend of post-COVID recovery. After the beginning of Russia's military operation in Ukraine and the adoption of several packages of sanctions against Moscow by the West, fuel prices have accelerated the growth, pushing many European governments to resort to contingency measures.
