In full tension on the energy sector, this is bad news. EDF has postponed the restart of five nuclear reactors in the context of a wage strike on certain sites, we learned from the company on Saturday.
Social movements can “have an impact on the schedule for the return to production of certain reactors”, indicated a spokesperson for the group. “For reactors in production, this can result in temporary power cuts,” she added.
EDF has thus updated on its site the restart date of several reactors, without however saying to what extent these delays were linked to the social movement: Cattenom 1, Cruas 2 and 3, Saint-Alban 2 and Tricastin 3. These delays range from one day to nearly three weeks depending on the reactors.
EDF counted social movements on six sites on Friday. The nuclear power plants on strike for wages renewed their movement on Friday for the weekend, which seems to be spreading slowly but surely.
This movement aims to put pressure on the wage negotiations of companies in the energy sector and in particular EDF, where a first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.
Although this strike has no impact at this stage for the general public and essentially weighs on EDF’s finances, it could “impact the schedule” for the return of nuclear units to the network, with most power plants in strike being subject to maintenance operations, said Friday Claude Martin, of the FNME-CGT.
“30 out of 56 reactors are working”
“We are now at 30 reactors out of 56 in operation, we will go to around 40 in the coming weeks, the objective is to go to 45 in January,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a television interview on Wednesday. “This objective, everything indicates that we will hold it”, he judged.
With the approach of winter, France is weakened due to nuclear electricity production at its lowest, linked to work or corrosion problems on part of its nuclear reactors. And it can hardly count on its hydraulic production, reduced due to the drought.
The RTE network manager had judged in September the risk of tension on the electricity network this winter “increased” but “controllable thanks to a strong mobilization” in favor of energy savings.