Link to article in French : {http://bit.ly/1kof8Dk}
Link to google translation : {http://bit.ly/1lt5W0R}
EXCLUSIVE - EDF forecasts estimate that 300 billion over fifty years the cost of the renovation and construction of new plants.
Pursue nuclear will be expensive, very expensive. An internal document EDF, the JDD procured, presents estimates of future costs for maintenance and renewal of the French nuclear fleet. The numbers are dizzy.
Nearly € 300 billion will be invested in the next fifty years if current plants are rebuilt identically. However, a difficult to hold to fulfill the objective of reducing from 75% to 50% the share of nuclear power generation in the French case. For several months, EDF amounts to € 55 billion cost of the work required to extend the life of 58 French reactors from forty to fifty years. Except that "major overhaul" is scheduled for the period between 2015 and 2025. Between 2025 and 2047, EDF will spend about € 35 billion to maintain the plants until they are closed, according to estimates by Greenpeace. A heavy but normal investment. Between 2002 and 2012, "only" 10 billion was spent on maintenance, a level deemed sufficient to ensure safety. A total of 100 billion euros will thus for the renovation of the 19 French plants.
Grist environmentalists
But the most breathtaking yet to come. A mountain of investments stands in case of renewal of the existing fleet. EDF document illustrates more than 200 billion euros needed between 2030 and 2067 to rebuild 58 reactors. Interviewed Thursday by deputies, the number 2 EDF, Hervé Machenaud, acknowledged that the cost could reach € 240 billion by choosing EPR reactors. "This is an image to give an order of magnitude, he explained. This shows the interest to extend the plants to see this investment."
These figures give grist to environmentalists. And EDF knows. "One hundred billion to extend the power of only ten years, the same price it had cost the construction of the entire park," said Denis Baupin, leader of the Greens in the Assembly. The total cost of 300 billion equivalent especially that the output of nuclear replaced by renewables. "The amounts are the same, thereby leaving the myth that nuclear power is free," the Green MP. With or without nuclear, energy costs will be heavy.