France and nuclear power

Official Name: French Republic.

Summary: France has developed and relies on extensive nuclear power facilities and is integrated into the European Union energy supply network.

In nineteenth-century France, energy production in the form of coal played a major role in shaping history. Coal resulted in the Industrial Revolution, caused union strife, influenced political life, allowed for social progress, and was even prominent in literature. With the growth of railways and industry throughout Europe and North America from the mid-nineteenth into the twentieth century, the coal industry simultaneously expanded. Hydropower also made an appearance at the end of the nineteenth century, with the most active installation program starting after World War II.

After the war, increase in demand for energy and economic growth tracked each other. During the 1950s, France continued domestic production of petroleum and natural gas while also increasing dependence on outside sources, such as the Middle East.

This caused a strain on foreign exchange reserves until substantial supplies of petroleum and natural gas were found in the Sahara Desert. By 1967, France could meet half its needs from countries within the franc zone, particularly as production in the Sahara Desert increased from 8.7 million tons to 53 million tons over a ten-year period. With Algerian independence in 1962, France no longer held the title to the deposits, but the French and Algerian governments arranged for continued supply to France.

By the 1970s, Algeria had taken controlling interest in French oil company subsidiaries, which led to an increase in France’s fuel and energy imports. Fuel accounted for 22.9 percent of all imports by 1975, and despite intense energy conservation programs, demand and consumption continued to rise through the 1980s, when fuel imports reached 26.6 percent. During this same period, coal mining began losing money as cheaper oil hit the market. Electric trains replaced coal-fired steam locomotives, natural gas replaced old gasworks, and nuclear energy emerged as a promising energy source. France’s coal mines slowly began to shut down.

Another major energy shift took place during European Union (EU) energy negotiations in the 1980s and 1990s, with France and Germany as the main antagonists. France feared that EU liberalization policies would have severe repercussions for France’s nationalized regime, whereas Germany’s utilities were concerned that French electricity would flood the market because of high excess capacity and the state monopoly of France’s Électricité de France (EdF). The French government and EdF cautiously supported plans for limited opening to the EU market to increase revenue from the excess generation, but with proposed comprehensive reform plans by the European Commission and the push for liberalization, they backed away from agreement negotiations.

The disagreement between the French and Germans was resolved after consultations with French president Jacques Chirac and German chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1996, allowing for agreements to move forward and passage of the directive for progressive market opening by the European Parliament in late 1996. Energy generation by France continued to increase even under the new model, by 36 percent.

Électricité de France, founded in 1946 during nationalization of a number of electricity producers, transporters, and distributors by the Communist minister of industrial production Marcel Paul, is France’s main electricity generation and distribution company, as well as one of the world’s largest energy producers.

EdF held a monopoly on electricity distribution until European Commission regulation in 1999, and EdF is now a limited liability corporation under private law. EdF has expanded to other countries (including Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico) and has acquired status with other large foreign companies in the EU, including London Energy and Germany’s Energie Baden-Württemberg AG.

Second in size to EdF is Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR), which operates nineteen hydroelectric plants on the Rhône River and twenty-one other small hydroelectric plants. CNR is majority-owned by Belgium’s Electrabel. Société Nationale d’Électricité et de Thermique (SNET) was owned by Charbonnages de France until it was acquired by Spain’s Endesa in 2004. SNET operates a number of coal-fired power plants in France as well as a cogeneration facility in Poland and hydroelectric and gas-fired power plants in Turkey.

Gestionnaire du Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE) was created by the French government in 2000 to operate the EdF-owned transmission network as a legally independent operation allowing for equal and nondiscriminatory access to the grid for electricity distributors and generators.

Production and Consumption

The French have one of the lowest carbon dioxide emissions per capita in the EU because of heavy reliance on nuclear power. In 2022, each person in France emitted an average of 4.03 metric tons of carbon dioxide. As of 2023, electricity production was at 494.4 terawatt-hours while consumption was 438.3 terawatt-hours.

In 2023, France was the largest energy exporter in Europe, with 46.7 terawatt-hours, while imports were 24.334 terawatt-hours. Nuclear power made up about 70 percent of the supply that year, based on World Bank data.

Nuclear energy production took off in the 1980s, mostly because of government investment in the 1970s and construction of plants in the Rhône and Loire River Valleys, which provided the large quantities of cooling water needed. France also houses a large uranium-enrichment factory in the lower Rhône River Valley and a waste processing plant at The Hague. France was the leading producer (as well as exporter) of nuclear energy by the late 1990s, with the ability to meet more than three-fourths of domestic need.

While production slowed slightly in the beginning of the twenty-first century with the onset of environmental concerns and advocacy against nuclear energy, France remains the largest producer of nuclear power in Europe. EdF operates fifty-eight nuclear reactors.

Additional reactors exist, some are planned, some are experimental, and others have been decommissioned. Waste disposal is pursued under the 1991 Waste Management Act, which works with a national radioactive waste management agency. France has almost 8.75 billion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves but relies on importation. In 2023, an estimated 33.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas were consumed. Norway, Russia, the Netherlands, Algeria, and Egypt have been major exporters of natural gas to France. Imports increased by 55 percent between 1990 and 2004, demonstrating a significant increase in demand.

Gaz de France (GdF), which is majority-owned by the French government, controls natural gas activities in the country. GdF previously held a legal monopoly on production, distribution, transportation, and importation until reforms under the EU agreement. A private company, Total, has made gains in entering the French market, concentrating on natural gas customers in the south, where prices are higher and opportunities exist to compete with GdF.

GdF operates some 19,000 miles of natural gas pipelines in France, the majority of France’s domestic pipeline systems. Because of France’s dependence on natural gas imports, a number of pipeline systems connect to neighboring countries. For instance, the 521-mile-long Franpipe links Norway’s Draupner platform to the French port of Dunkerque and is expected eventually to supply one-third of France’s total natural gas consumption. The Trans-Pyrenean natural gas pipeline, linking Spain and France, allows Spain to import natural gas via France from Norway. The Cerville-Velaine distribution center in northeastern France allows for importation from Russia, while the Taisnières entry point allows for importation from the Netherlands.

France receives a significant portion of its natural gas imports as liquefied natural gas (LNG), mostly from Algeria and Nigeria, and is trying to position itself as a European hub for LNG.

Oil Imports

With proven crude oil reserves of 84.08 million barrels and production of 21,960 barrels per day, France continues to be a major importer of oil (1.174 million barrels per day as of 2015). It also produces 133,014 barrels of refined petroleum per day and imports more than 1 million barrels per day. Norway, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom, and Iran are major suppliers. Consumption of oil decreased from 71 percent in 1973 to 39 percent in 2003 with the promotion of nuclear power. Vermilion is the one of the largest producers of crude oil, with operations in Parentis (southwest France) and in the Paris and Aquitaine Basins. Refineries are concentrated in the lower Seine River Valley and near Fos-sur-Mer and Étang de Berre. France is active at the international level, with the French oil company Total S.A. being one of the world’s largest oil-producing companies with major operations in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Total S.A. was previously known as TotalFinaElf (with the merger of Total, Belgian Petrofina, and French Elf Aquitaine).

Renewables and Coal

As of 2021, renewable energy made up nearly 20 percent of domestic primary energy production, with biomass and hydropower forming the majority. Hydropower generation may have reached its peak, as most favorable sites have already been developed. Geothermal, solar, tidal, and solid waste burning also provide energy sources.

A steady decline in France’s coal sector has occurred over the past few decades, particularly because of the nation’s relatively small coal reserves. With cheaper imports replacing domestic sources, production facilities, such as the state-owned coal monopoly Charbonnages de France, have been shutting down. Most coal imports come from Australia and South Africa.

Bibliography

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