EDF has postponed the restart of five nuclear reactors in the context of a wage strike at certain sites, we learned this Saturday from the company. Social movements can “influence the schedule for the return to production of certain reactors,” said a spokesperson for the group. “For reactors in production, this can result in temporary power outages,” he added.
Therefore, EDF has updated on its site the restart date of several reactors, without saying to what extent these delays were related to the social movement: Cattenom 1, Cruas 2 and 3, Saint-Alban 2 and Tricastin 3. These delays they range from one day to almost three weeks depending on the reactors.
EDF counted social movements at six sites on Friday. The nuclear power plants on strike for wages renewed this Friday their movement for the weekend, which seems to be spreading slowly but surely. This movement aims to put pressure on the wage negotiations of the companies in the energy sector and in particular of EDF, where a first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.
45 reactors in operation in January
If this strike has no impact at this stage for the general public and essentially weighs on EDF’s finances, it could “affect the schedule” for the return to availability of nuclear units on the grid, most of the plants on strike are subject to maintenance. operations, said Claude Martin of the FNME-CGT on Friday.
“We are now at 30 reactors out of 56 in operation, we are going to reach around 40 in the coming weeks, the goal is to reach 45 in January,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a television interview on Wednesday. “This goal, everything indicates that we will maintain it,” he said.
With the arrival of winter, France is weakened by the nuclear production of electricity at its lowest point, linked to works or corrosion problems in part of its nuclear reactors. And it can hardly count on its hydraulic production, reduced by the drought. The manager of the RTE network had judged in September the risk of tension in the electrical network this winter “increased” but “controllable thanks to a strong mobilization” in favor of energy saving.
Source: BFM TV
