“The question of nuclear security is central in debate on energy transition”

The energy crisis that we live in France and Europe is such that historical competitors such as EDF, Engie and Total are launching a common call, with my CEO, Jean-Bernard Lévy, to ask for a reduction in our consumption. They also want a “transparent dialogue” … It is in this spirit of transparency, and as a safety in safety and nuclear exploitation, that I decided to write.

The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, announced on February 10, 2022, in Belfort, the construction of six new EPR2 reactors and the launch of a study for the construction of an additional eight EPR2, in parallel with the extension of the life of power plants beyond fifty years.

The nuclear park is aging, the first reactors have already been the subject of their 4 e decennial visit among which Tricastin, central in which I worked as head of the service In charge of exploitation of the four reactors, with 400 employees under my responsibility. Other reactors will soon reach the term of their lifespan, initially planned from 40 years.

The question is no longer for or against nuclear

The lack of anticipation in the development of other decarbonized energies and in the replacement of the existing nuclear fleet, the loss of skills in certain areas of nuclear, whose delay in the construction of the EPR is the sad example, as well that the corrosion problems on piping of the primary circuit, binding on stopping more than a dozen reactors, means that the energy situation of our country has never been so critical.

The question of the energy transition is no longer limited to today whether we are for the nuclear power, since we will not be able to do without the extension of the fleet existing at least again A decade in the best scenarios. But I am afraid that the temperature records we are experiencing and the state of the nuclear fleet, some reactors of which are today arrested for an indefinite period, oblige us much more than the proposed energy sobriety.

Also, the question of nuclear security is central in the debate on the energy transition. I am the whistleblower at the origin of the complaint having resulted in the opening of judicial information on the initiative of the Public Prosecutor of Marseille, in particular for questions of concealing security events , but also for spill of substances in water that can harm the environment.

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