At the head of the energetician soon to be renationalized, he will have to focus on the burning file of the revival of the nuclear fleet while France risks lacking electricity this winter.
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Relaunch the existing nuclear fleet, carry out the deployment of the six new generation reactors (EPR) and accelerate in renewable energies. These are the main missions that will have to carry out Luc Rémont, the new president and chief executive officer of EDF. All in a context marked by an unique energy crisis in Europe, due to the war triggered by Russia in Ukraine, February 24.
Barely appointed, Jean-Bernard Lévy’s successor will sail under the lookout of the State, which will soon be the only shareholder of the electrician. It is up to him to “lead the strategic and industrial projects as quickly as possible announced by the President of the Republic, in Belfort, on February 10, 2022”, said Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Economy and Finance, July 7, in a statement. In particular “the launch of the construction program of six EPR 2 nuclear reactors and EDF’s contribution to the accelerated development of renewable energies”.
In a very short term, the new challenge of the new boss will be to hold the schedule for restarting the entire nuclear fleet, while France may lack electricity this winter. Of the 56 group reactors, 26 are, for the time being, stopped for maintenance reasons, corrosion or recharge problems in combustible. In theory, five must leave in September, five in October, followed by Sept in November, three in December, three in January and two in February, detailed, on September 14, Cédric Lewandowski, executive director of EDF, who expressed alongside the former CEO before the National Assembly Committee on the National Assembly.
“EDF is committed to restarting all the reactors for stopping for this winter,” said Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Energy Transition, at the end of the Defense Council on Energy, September 2 . A perspective that many experts consider too optimistic, in view of the multiple hazards encountered by the group, like the prolonged, and unforeseen stop, of four reactors, on August 25, for problems of Corrosion.
To execute this plan, Luc Rémont will have to attack the shortage of skilled labor, which contributes to delaying the relaunch of the nuclear park. In the absence of industrial welders, pipelines, plants, boilermakers in sufficient number, for example, EDF must recruit workers in Romania, Portugal or elsewhere, which it forms in two or three years minimum.
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