Relaunching the existing nuclear fleet, completing the deployment of the six new generation reactors (EPR) and accelerating development of renewable energy: These are the key missions that must be juggled by Luc Rémont, EDF’s new chairman and CEO. It’s all happening in a context marked by an unprecedented energy crisis in Europe, due to the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine on February 24.
No sooner than he had been appointed, Jean-Bernard Lévy’s successor found himself navigating under the watchful eye of the French state, soon to be the power company’s sole shareholder. It’s up to him to “carry out the strategic and industrial projects announced by the President of the Republic in Belfort, on February 10, 2022, as quickly as possible,” said Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Economy and Finance, in a statement on July 7. In particular, this includes “the launch of the construction program for six EPR 2 nuclear reactors and EDF’s contribution to the accelerated development of renewable energies.”
In the very short term, the first challenge for the new boss will be to keep to the schedule for restarting the entire nuclear network, at a moment when France risks running out of electricity this winter. Of the group’s 56 reactors, 26 are currently shut down for maintenance, corrosion problems or refueling. In theory, five should have started up again in September and five in October, followed by seven in November, three in December, three in January and two in February, said Cedric Lewandowski, EDF’s executive director, speaking alongside the former CEO in front of the French National Assembly’s Economic Affairs Committee on September 14.
Labor shortage
“EDF is committed to restarting all shutdown reactors by this winter,” said Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for the Energy Transition, at the end of the Defense Council on Energy on September 2. It’s a perspective that many experts consider too optimistic in view of the multiple hazards encountered by the group, such as the prolonged and unexpected shutdown of four reactors due to corrosion problems on August 25 .
To implement this plan, Mr. Rémont will have to tackle the shortage of skilled labor, which is contributing to delay in reviving the nuclear plants. Due to insufficient numbers of industrial welders, pipe fitters, machinists and boilermakers, for example, EDF must recruit workers from Romania, Portugal and elsewhere, training them in a mimimum of two or three years.
In the first half of the year, the drop in electricity production and the company’s contribution to the government’s energy bill mitigation measures have already led to an abysmal loss of €5.3 billion
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