The new group aims to be a private-sector equivalent to the Nuclear Alliance, within which a dozen EU member countries, led by Paris, regularly meet during gatherings of energy ministers in Brussels.
There is an “economic logic” to reviving nuclear power in Europe, Séjourné said, calling it a competitive asset.
Nuclear power “is low carbon, [is] aligned with European sovereignty, and is lowering prices because the amount of [electricity] production is just huge,” he argued.
There’s just one problem with those claims: The last nuclear reactors built or under construction in Europe have all experienced major delays and cost overruns, raising questions about the industry’s ability to deliver new reactors on time and on budget.
French nuclear giant EDF’s latest reactor, built at the Flamanville power plant that Séjourné visited this week, has come to symbolize the industry’s difficulties. Construction took 17 years instead of five and cost seven times more than planned, according to a recent report from the French audit body.
Although industry representatives say they can go faster if given clear targets, those struggles have spurred French authorities to err on the side of caution.
