France says ‘oui’ to new nuclear
France says ‘oui’ to new nuclear
Plus: Qatar’s role in Iran talks, CCS is all about the ‘S’, lithium mining goes electric + MORE
FIRST UP: France has finally turned the page on aspirations to reduce its reliance on nuclear power, and will be cutting some very big cheques to revive the troubled sector – and its debt-ridden state sponsor, EDF. That’s right here in this email, along with other stories about the US-Iran nuclear talks, carbon dioxide storage, electric lithium mining and lots more 👇
BREAKOUT STORY: Japan is in an energy pickle. Faced with increasing energy import dependency and exposure to global commodity volatility, Tokyo might come to regret its decision to emulate the UK’s experiment with energy market deregulation. That’s this week’s breakout story (5-min read):
IN THIS EMAIL:
💥France says non ‘oui’ to new nuclear
💥US courts Qatar as Iran interlocutor
💥CCS success hinges on the ‘S’
💥Canadian lithium miner dreams electric
📺 Quote of the week
🌎Global headlines by key topic (20+ curated links)
🧠Energised Minds: ‘Beware the energy transition’s looming valley of death’
💥 France says ‘oui’ to new nuclear
Despite never-ending setbacks, nuclear power never loses its allure. An abundant source of zero-carbon baseload power generation that reduces reliance on energy imports is the Holy Grail of the energy transition – if you can just get comfortable with spiralling costs and market-melting outages. With a re-election bid looming, French president Emmanuel Macron has come round to this view and categorically reversed the energy policy platform upon which he campaigned for office.
Macron yesterday promised to build a new generation of French nuclear reactors and extend the operational life of existing plants. This means shoring up the finances of debt-ridden state-run EDF, which is enduring the double-whammy of cost overruns at flagship newbuild nuclear projects in the UK, China and Finland and reduced atomic power generation at home.
The continuing poor performance of the French nuclear fleet is one of many thorns in EDF’s side.