France Pays to Shut Oldest Nuclear Plant

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The French government has agreed to pay Électricité de France SA (EPA: EDF) (Paris, France) up to 400 million euro ($447 million) in compensation to close the country's oldest nuclear power plant at Fessenheim.

The move is designed to accelerate the government's plans to reduce the country's reliance on nuclear power from about 75% today to 50% by 2025. In late 2014, Industrial Info reported that the government had committed to closing a significant number of its oldest nuclear plants. For additional information, see October 16, 2014, article - France to Cut Nuclear Reliance to 50%.

Fessenheim has been in the targeting sights of French President Francois Hollande for some time but it managed to escape early closure last year. For additional information, see October 2, 2015, article - France's Oldest Nuclear Plant Gets Stay of Execution.

The government has agreed to pay EDF to compensate for the early closure, with 100 million euro ($112 million) to be paid after the plant shuts in 2018 and a further staggered payment of 300 million ($335 million) by 2020.

Construction of Fessenheim's two 900-megawatt (MW) reactors commenced in 1970 with the plant being commissioned in 1977. It supplies around 3% of the country's power. Located just a mile from the German border and 25 miles from Switzerland, the plant's power is shared with Germany's Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW) (FWB:EBK) (Karlsruhe, Germany) (17.5%) and Swiss consortium CNP (15%).

The writing was on the wall for Fessenheim earlier this year when increased pressure from neighbouring countries led French government ministers to announce that the government would close Fessenheim. It has been a bone of contention for years because of its age and location on a seismic fault line. For additional information, see March 17, 2016, article--France Forced to Shut Oldest Nuclear Plant.

There is a slim chance that Fessenheim will escape closure if conservative candidates in the upcoming French presidential elections win. They have promised to keep Fessenheim running.

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