France faces a winter of discontent, energy analysts say, as deep-rooted problems with its nuclear-heavy energy strategy raise serious questions about its preparedness for the colder months, reports CNBC.
A long-standing source of national pride, France generates roughly 70% of its electricity from a nuclear fleet of 56 reactors, all operated by state-owned utility EDF.
It makes France home to the world’s largest fleet of reactors after the U.S. and ensured Paris was less exposed than its neighbors to a dramatic cut in Russian gas supplies.
However, more than half of EDF’s nuclear reactors have been shut down for corrosion problems, maintenance and technical issues in recent months, thanks in part to extreme heat waves and repair delays from the Covid pandemic. The outages have resulted in French power output falling to a near 30-year low just as the European Union faces its worst energy crisis in decades.
“I find the France nuclear relationship really interesting because it just bluntly shows you all of the pros and cons of nuclear,” Norbert Ruecker, head of economics and next generation research at Julius Baer, told CNBC via telephone.