France to restart ten more nuclear power units in the coming weeks

PARIS, 12 Oct – PRIME. French President Emmanuel Macron said that 10 more stopped nuclear power units will start operating in France in the coming weeks.

“Today, we have 30 of 56 nuclear reactors operating. In the coming weeks, there will be 40. Our goal is to have 45 operating units in January,” Macron said in an interview with France 2 TV on Wednesday.

France’s nuclear reactor fleet has 56 units with a total capacity of 61.4 GW.

In May of this year, the French Nuclear Safety Agency (ASN) revealed traces of corrosion on 12 nuclear reactors, which later led to their shutdown. A number of other reactors have been shut down for scheduled repairs.

The French energy company EDF, which is the operator of the country’s nuclear power plants, said it would restart all shutdown reactors before winter to avoid a shortage of electricity in the country amid a sharp increase in energy resources.