The candidate Rn in the presidential election wishes that the head of state stops the dismantling of the nuclear power plant, in order to leave “to his possible successor, the freedom to reverse”.
Le Monde with AFP
Nuclear energy has not finished being at the center of the debates of the presidential campaign. Marine Le Pen asked Monday 15 November that Emmanuel Macron declares a moratorium on the dismantling of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant (Haut-Rhin). Wishing to reopen the plant in case of victory, the national gathering candidate said on frenchinfo :” I solemnly request this [Monday] morning to the President of the Republic a moratorium on the dismantling of Fessenheim, because in March 2022 the dismantling will arrive at a point of no return . “
Fervent partisan nuclear energy, the far-right candidate wishes in particular, if elected, build six new EPRs and launch a vast inspection and modernization construction site in operation. It justifies its request to Emmanuel Macron by the arrival of a new presidential election and “the assumption of [the] defeat”, of which it must take into account “. According to the member of the Pas-de-Calais, a moratorium would leave to the eventual successor of Emmanuel Macron “the freedom to reverse and to reopen Fessenheim”.
Centrality of the nuclear issue in the Political debate
His statement took one year after stopping the reactors of the plant, in June 2020. EDF technicians are currently preparing the dismantling of the site, which shall begin in 2025, in accordance with the decision taken by the former President of the Republic, François Hollande, and confirmed by Emmanuel Macron. Commissioning in 1977, the plant located in Haut-Rhin is the first to be stopped as part of the multi-year energy programming (EPP), which aims to reduce the share of nuclear energy in the French energy mix.
According to M me le Pen, “The conversion of Emmanuel Macron is recent” and “he made an absolutely major mistake by closing Fessenheim”. Relying on the sovereignist line she defends, the candidate argues: “Nuclear nuclear is a safe, abundant, cheap, clean energy, which we master and who is the most decarbonated energy, it’s an incredible chance that we bequeathed the General de Gaulle, it is therefore obviously necessary to use this advantage, not abandon it, not weakening it; on the contrary, to develop it. “
In recent weeks, the nuclear file is back on the political table, on the backdrop of debate on the ecological transition. Tuesday, November 9, during his presidential speech, Emmanuel Macron confirmed that he intended to “revive the construction of nuclear reactors in our country and continue to develop renewable energies”. A few weeks earlier, he had already announced a billion euros in nuclear energy investments by 2030, especially for small SMAL (Small Modular Reactors) reactors.