Nuclear safety, climate and electricity prices: two energy laws in preparation, says Agnès Pannier-Runacher

“I will introduce two laws in the coming months to reform the governance of our nuclear safety system and to regain control over the prices of our electricity, more broadly over energy and the climate,” indicated Minister Agnès Pannier. Runacher to the press Tuesday morning.

His office specified that the two texts were intended to be presented "before the end of the year".

In the first case, it involves completing a project - highly contested - initiated by the government to merge the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), a technical safety expert, into the Nuclear Safety Authority ( ASN), which decides the fate of the power plants.

Against the backdrop of the relaunch of the nuclear program, it aims for the government to "adapt" and "fluidify" decisions by creating "one of the largest nuclear safety authorities in the world", but its detractors fear a loss of independence and quality of expertise and less transparency towards the public.

On the second law, Ms. Pannier-Runacher wishes to put in place "a lasting system which allows us to maintain among the lowest prices in Europe while preventing the surge in prices that we have experienced in recent months".

Emmanuel Macron indicated on Monday that the government would announce in October electricity prices "compatible" with the requirements of "competitiveness" and which give "visibility to both households and industrialists", thanks to the nuclear fleet owned by France.

This subject is at the heart of bitter discussions in Brussels due to dissensions between countries over the place to be given to French nuclear power. It also divides the State and the management of EDF.

The State, 100% shareholder of EDF, wants electricity prices to be as close as possible to production costs.

For its part, EDF, weighed down by a record debt, claims the right to be able to set its prices more freely thanks to contracts on the markets with large customers.

“Significant investments”

This second law must also take into account France's climate objectives, and set energy production programming sector by sector.

France must adopt the European objective of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990.

A document should be presented for consultation "in the coming weeks", the objective being that the law arrives at the Council of Ministers "before the end of the year".

An energy-climate programming law, a subject eminently a source of debate, was originally planned for early 2023, before being promised for this fall, without ever being included in the parliamentary calendar.

“I hope that this is indeed a programming law because it is fundamental that parliament through its vote can set the course” in the long term, declared Tuesday Jules Nyssen, the president of the Renewable Energies Union at the opening of its annual conference.

“We are talking about significant investments, issues that go well beyond the 2035 horizon and we need visibility,” he insisted.

No overestimated goals

For this program, the minister "counts on the doubling of photovoltaic and biogas production" each year, "the stabilization of the trajectory of onshore wind turbines at the 2022 rate", "on the acceleration of wind turbines marines to be able to launch a major call for tenders at the end of 2024, beginning of 2025".

She also wants an “increase in investments in battery-type storage or STEP”, these hydroelectric pumped energy stations.

“We will integrate the relaunch of nuclear power with EDF which has a managerial objective of 400 TWh of production,” she added, specifying that the government would retain “360TWh out of prudence”. Production fell to 279 Twh in 2022.

The same goes for renewables, the government wishes to retain production objectives that are a little “more cautious” than those displayed by the sector.

“I don’t want us to put the system in danger with overestimated objectives,” she said.

On marine wind power, a “major six-month debate” must open in November on each of the four maritime facades, in order to define suitable areas.