Nuclear-dependent French fear winter without electricity

• Frank Renout

  corresponding France

The French fear a blackout this winter. A large number of nuclear power plants are idle and the fear is that there will soon be insufficient electricity to power all households and businesses.

France has eighteen nuclear power plants with a total of 56 reactors. Nearly half of them have gone out of business. Regular maintenance and repairs are required. Last year, in more than ten reactors cracks in the pipes discovers.

Thus, nuclear energy production in France has reached a historically low level, precisely at a time when the war in Ukraine is causing a global energy crisis. Earlier this month, climate minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher did so a call to the energy company EDF to find solutions “to get through the winter”. If only a fraction of the reactors are in use, there is a possibility that there will be an electricity shortage in the future.

“The scenario that everyone fears is a winter evening when it’s cold. People come from work and then everyone turns on the heat and the TV,” says Emmanuelle Galichet, who is a physicist at CNAM University College. electricity consumption. On a very cold day, there may not be enough energy to meet the demand. Then you run the risk of a blackout”.

This means that in parts of France, or at worst, all over the country, the power goes out. This may take a short or long time, depending on the severity of the malfunction. In the winter of 1978, France already had a blackout. A large part of the country was therefore without electricity for four hours.

France began building nuclear power plants in the 1950s, at the behest of President De Gaulle, to reduce its dependence on energy from abroad. The 56 reactors are now responsible for approx 70 percent of all the energy produced in France.

But now that reactors have been shut down on a large scale and there is a shortage on the international energy market, the country is in trouble. A blackout can be avoided. The RTE network operator does not exclude the possibility of lowering the voltage on the electricity grid if necessary: ​​this will reduce energy consumption.

The power supply to businesses or residential areas can also be cut off in advance for a few hours. These measures should prevent overloading of RTE and the network. “Businesses and citizens should also simply use less energy,” says researcher Emmanuelle Galichet. “Frugal is the simplest remedy.”

A special site and app have been developed in France for this purpose: Echo Watts. There, the current status of the energy supply is displayed in three colors. All is well with green, orange is the risk zone if you use a lot of energy, and if the map turns red, the power can be cut off at certain points.

With the app on the phone, consumers can see at any time of day whether problems are imminent and thus adjust their behaviour: EcoWatt predicts the situation for the next three days. On the news the application with the three colors appears every evening with the weather forecast.

Critics accuse the government of not having a stick behind the door. The French are asked to conserve energy, but there is no coercion or sanction. Additionally, the government keeps energy prices low with billions of dollars in subsidies. Even that doesn’t encourage the French to cut spending, is the criticism.

The same problems that are currently occurring in nuclear power plants cannot be solved quickly. They are the result of various causes and an unfortunate combination of circumstances.

“Much of the regularly scheduled maintenance of reactors has been postponed in recent years due to the coronavirus and is now piling up,” says Emmanuelle Galichet. “In October there was a strike at nuclear power plants which lasted for weeks. This also led to new delays.”

And there is a political responsibility, according to the researcher. Nuclear power plants have been neglected in recent decades. “Politicians have long believed that we would all use less energy. As a result, less has been invested in power plants and also in knowledge. Approximately 100 welders from the United States are now being employed to carry out repairs at our power plants. and Canada. La France no longer has those professionals at home.”