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Country profile: France

Summary figures for 2010

Country
Number of nuclear power plants connected to the grid
Nuclear electricity generation
(net TWh) 2010
Nuclear percentage of total electricity supply
France
58
407.9
 *
74.1
  
OECD Europe
144
868.5
24.7
  
OECD Total
342
2 183.7
21.8
  

* Provisional data

Country report

As of 31 December 2008, France’s installed nuclear capacity consisted of 58 pressurised water reactors (34×900 MW units, 20×1 300 MW units and 4×1 450 units) and one fast reactor (Phénix, 130 MW) used for research, i.e. a total installed capacity of 63 260 MW. The Flamanville EPR has been under construction since December 2007.

Nuclear power generation

According to RTE (the Electricity Transmission Network operator), total electricity production (mainland France and Corsica) in 2008 amounted to 549.1 TWh (+0.8% compared with 2007). Domestic electricity consumption accounted for 494.5 TWh (+2.9%) and exports for 48 TWh (-15.4%).

Electricity generated by nuclear units amounted to 418.3 TWh (76.2 % of the total), down by 0.1% compared with 2007. Output from fossil-fired plants amounted to 53.2 TWh (9.7% of the total), down by 3.3 %. Hydropower generation totalled 68 TWh (12.4% of the total), up by 7.4%. Wind power accounted for 5.6 TWh (1% of the total), an increase of 37.4%. Production form other renewable sources amounted to 4 TWh (0.7% of the total), up by 6.6%.

Nuclear reactors

Research reactors

The Phénix reactor has been used since 2003 to conduct research into actinide transmutation in fast reactors, and also to study new materials for fast spectrum reactor concepts as part of the development of Generation IV reactors. Its operating power had been lowered to 130 MW and in 2009 it was disconnected from the network. Research studies have been programmed until the end of 2009.

Construction of the Jules Horowitz research reactor (RJH, 100 MWt) at Cadarache, on which work began in 2007 to replace the Osiris research reactor, is currently in progress. It is due to be commissioned in 2014.

Generation IV

France has given priority to two technologies:

A more modest effort will be devoted to supercritical reactor technology as well as lead-cooled fast reactors and molten-salt reactors.

In January 2006, the previous President of the Republic had announced the need to develop a prototype fourth generation reactor by 2020.

ITER

Cadarache was officially chosen as the site for ITER at the meeting in Moscow on 28 June 2005. A public debate in France was organised by the National Public Debate Commission from 16 January 2006 to 6 May 2006 (followed by a report published on 12 June 2006). On 21 November 2006, the seven partners in the project signed an agreement establishing the related international organisation in Paris. Work on site preparation started in 2007 and building work is currently in progress.

EPR

In July 2008, AREVA announced that it was investing in the plant needed to forge 100% of its components (and notably the reactor vessel) at its site at Le Creusot, instead of the 80% of components manufactured there previously.

In February 2009, the US Nuclear Safety Authority approved the application from AREVA to certify the EPR in the United States.

On 29 January 2009, the President of the Republic announced the construction of a second EPR in France. Construction work is due to begin in 2012 at the Penly site and the unit will enter into commercial operation in 2017.

In February 2009, Siemens announced its decision to voluntarily cede its minority shareholding in the joint venture AREVA NP (in which AREVA has had a 66% share and Siemens a 34% share since 2001) currently constructing the EPR.

ATMEA

In July 2008, the IAEA concluded that the ATMEA concept reactor met its safety assessment criteria.

Fuel cycle

Uranium enrichment

After the National Public Debate Commission had organised a public debate from September to October 2004, AREVA started work in the summer of 2006 on construction of the Georges Besse II fuel enrichment plant at the Tricastin site which is designed to replace the current Eurodif plant that has been in operation there since 1978. The buildings were delivered in February 2008 and the first centrifuges installed in the following months. The first unit has entered into production and work started on construction of the second unit in the first half of 2009. The plant will reach its rated production capacity in 2016.

In January 2009, AREVA submitted a licence application to the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) in the United States for a permit to construct and operate uranium enrichment facilities at the Eagle Rock site.

MOX fuel

Further to the licensing Decree of 27 April 2007, the Melox fuel plant at the Marcoule site now has a production capacity of 195 tonnes a year of heavy metal.

In May 2008, Shaw AREVA Mox Services, a joint venture set up by AREVA and the US Shaw group, signed a contract worth USD 2.7 billion with the US Department of Energy for the construction of a MOX (Mixed Oxide) fuel fabrication plant at the Savannah River site (Aiken, South Carolina).

Radwaste management

To date, 84% of the volume radioactive waste generated by French operators is effectively subject to long-term waste management measures. The remainder is packaged and stored under safe conditions pending long-term disposal (either in a surface facility or in a deep geological repository). The National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra) manages the existing storage centres and oversees research into the deep geological disposal of long-lived high activity wastes. Andra also publishes the national inventory of radioactive waste and recoverable materials (last edition 2006, new edition planned for 2009).

Very low activity wastes are stored at the Morvilliers site (Aube), which is designed to store a total of 650 000 tonnes of waste over the next 30 years and which opened in the summer of 2003.

Low and medium activity wastes (LMW) are stored at the Aube centre in Soulaines-Dhuys. No waste consignments have been shipped to the Manche storage centre since 1994. The centre entered the active surveillance phase in 2003 with very active surveillance scheduled until 2013.

Long-lived wastes (high or medium activity) are subject to specific legislation, namely Programme Law No. 2006-739 of 28 June 2006 on the sustainable management of radioactive wastes and materials.

This Law follows on from the Law of 30 December 1991 (Bataille Act) which specified that after a period of fifteen years, i.e. in 2006, the Government had to bring draft legislation before Parliament regarding the management of radioactive wastes. A research programme was to be pursued during this fifteen year period in the following areas:

The French Atomic Energy Commission was responsible for conducting research into areas 1 and 3, while Andra was responsible for area 2. These three research programmes are currently in progress, as laid down in the Law of 28 June 2006 in accordance with the same prerogatives.

Research into the deep geological disposal of long-lived high activity wastes is being conducted under the supervision of Andra at the underground laboratory at Meuse/Haute-Marne (Bure). The experimental zone, at a depth of 490 metres, has been operational since April 2005. Experimental plant was installed from April to December 2005 and the laboratory is currently making measurements over time.

The CEA and Andra had submitted their research reports to the Government on 30 June 2005. This work had been subjected to an in-depth review by the National Evaluation Commission (CNE) set up under the Bataille Act, and also to an international review by the OECD/NEA and a review by the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). Furthermore, the Parliamentary office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Options (OPECST), a parliamentary body, drew up a report on these research activities in March 2005, and in August 2005 the ASN published its national plan for the management of radioactive wastes and recoverable materials. To pave the way as best possible for the parliamentary review, the Government had decided to organise a public debate and asked the National Public Debate Commission (CNDP) to organise that debate.

The debate took place from 12 September 2005 to 13 January 2006 and the final report was presented to the Government on 1 February 2006. In March 2006, the CNE published its final progress report on the research programmes, in conclusion to the annual reports it had published during the 15‑year period covered by the Bataille Act. As laid down in the 1991 Act, on 22 March 2006 the Government submitted to Parliament a “draft Programme Law on the management of radioactive wastes and materials.”

Programme Law No. 2006-739 on the sustainable management of radioactive wastes and materials of 28 June 2006 (date of publication in the Official Journal) established a national plan for the management of radioactive wastes and materials and set out a programme of research and work, together with a timetable, for the implementation of this plan. The plan makes three major provisions:

A national commission has been given the task of making an annual assessment of progress with this research work.

The construction of a storage site at a specific location may be authorised by the year 2015, under a Prime Ministerial Decree, with a view to the storage facility entering into service by 2025, following completion of the procedure set out in the Law and including the securing of opinions from the Nuclear Safety Authority, Parliament and the local authorities concerned, as well as a public debate and enquiry. Furthermore, this entry into service is subject to legislation being passed with regard to the conditions under which the storage can be reversed.

This Law also provides for the financing of waste research, waste management and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. In particular, it provides for a system of taxes on the activity of nuclear facilities. It also sets out the special rules applicable to the securing of the reserves that operators must build up in order to cover their long-term costs. The system adopted is based on a rigorous assessment of the liabilities such costs represent, which must at all times be at least equal to the final updated value of those liabilities, on the constitution of dedicated assets to offset liabilities, on the legal protection of such assets within the firms concerned and, lastly, on a comprehensive set of inspections and sanctions imposed by the public authorities.

Moreover, the Law of 13 June 2006 regarding nuclear safety and transparency established the French Nuclear Safety Authority as an independent administrative authority. It set out rules regarding the public’s right to be informed and the procedures and bodies set up for that purpose by establishing the Higher Committee for transparency and information regarding nuclear safety. It also defined and set out regulations with regard to basic nuclear facilities.

Decree No. 2007-243 on securing the funds to cover the cost of nuclear liabilities was published on 23 February 2007. This Decree sets out rules for the long-term financing of the costs relating to decommissioning, spent fuel and nuclear waste.

In June 2008, Andra launched a call for expressions of interest in providing a site for long-lived low activity wastes. Any Communes interested in providing such a site have until the month of October to make themselves known. The opening of the future storage centre at the site selected is scheduled for 2019.

Source: Nuclear Energy Data 2009

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Last reviewed: 7 August 2011