Shutterstock Save for later Print Download Share LinkedIn Twitter The French government signaled that it is only weeks away from a formal decision to move forward with a fleet of six EPR2 reactors, and President Emmanuel Macron this week made his firmest commitment yet to domestic newbuilds. "To guarantee France's energy independence, to guarantee our country's electricity supply and achieve our objectives, in particular carbon neutrality in 2050, we are going to, for the first time in decades, relaunch the construction of nuclear reactors in our country and continue to develop renewable energies," Macron said in a televised Nov. 9 speech. But government approval of the EPR2 fleet doesn't make its construction a sure thing. "It's clear that" the fleet cannot be built "if we do not have the [right] working environment, the regulatory framework, the funding that will allow us to do it," EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Levy told a Senate committee on Nov. 10.
