New UK-France Nuclear Steering Group Meets to Advance Cooperation Under Northwood Declaration
Statement by the United Kingdom and the French Republic on Nuclear Policy and Cooperation.
From: Cabinet Office, 18 December 2025, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-uk-france-nuclear-steering-group-meets-to-advance-cooperation-under-northwood-declaration
At the UK-France Summit in July 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron affirmed their commitment to strengthening the UK-France nuclear relationship. They signed the Northwood Declaration, which established the UK-France Nuclear Steering Group in order to provide political direction and coordinate bilateral work across nuclear policy, capability and operations.
On 10 December, the Nuclear Steering Group met for the first time in Paris, jointly chaired by senior officials from the UK Cabinet Office and the Presidency of the French Republic.
They were accompanied by senior military personnel and officials from defence and foreign ministries to discuss Euro-Atlantic security issues and coordination of their respective independent deterrents. They discussed their approach to strengthening deterrence in Europe and confirmed their ambition for bilateral co-operation on nuclear deterrence.
They also observed Operation POKER which was the first time foreign officials were given access to this demonstration of France’s strategic nuclear airborne component.
Nuclear power: the courts put a stop to the project for two EPR2 reactors at Bugey
December 10, 2025
“ It’s a dramatic turn of events ” against the project to build two EPR2 reactors in the Ain region. Speaking by phone, Jean-Pierre Collet, from the Sortir du nucléaire ( SDN ) Bugey network, made no secret of his satisfaction. On Wednesday, December 10, 2025, the Lyon Administrative Court
overturned amendments to urban planning documents—
the SCOT ( Regional Planning Scheme ) in February 2023 and
the PLU ( Local Urban Development Plan ) in September 2024—that would have allowed the construction of these two new reactors on the EDF site at Bugey.
This decision follows a hearing on November 18th and sides with the anti-nuclear group Sortir du nucléaire Bugey and several residents. The court ruled that the ecological impact had not been sufficiently considered, particularly the presence of numerous protected species and the proximity of the Natura 2000 site of Isle Crémieux.
This decision comes as the project was already underway, with archaeological excavations already begun, according to Jean-Pierre Collet. A public debate held in early 2025 took place in a heated atmosphere, with the team in charge of organizing the debates lamenting the lack of data on the actual cost of the new facilities.
“
The construction site is suspended for a while,” Jean-Pierre Collet rejoiced.
“This shows that even on large-scale projects, you can’t ignore the rules. There are urban planning regulations, you can’t pretend they don’t exist. For us, this is very good news. ”……………………………………………………………………… https://reporterre.net/Nucleaire-la-justice-met-un-coup-d-arret-au-projet-de-deux-EPR2-au-Bugey
Nuclear power? Its account is (almost) OK
In France, it has been decided that widespread electrification will mean a nuclear revival. But the feasibility and viability of this revival are questionable. Technically, industrially… and also economically and financially. Laure Noualhat delivers a damning indictment of the cost of nuclear power for the coming years and envisions France defaulting on its debt due to this investment choice. A provocative statement designed to shock: intrigued, the public might be inclined to watch her documentary, ”
Nuclear Power Will Ruin France, ” or read her book of the same name to discover figures recently validated by the Court of Auditors. Perhaps even underestimated.
Science involving nuclear power is nothing but the ruin of the state.
This new nuclear perspective rests on a risky gamble, devoid of any studies or clearly established facts. The long-awaited third multi-year energy program (PPE) has not yet been published, but the decision is already considered final:
three pairs of EPR2 reactors have been announced, with four more expected to follow. And the current dithering at the highest levels of government will not allow for the swift publication in the Official Journal of the implementing decrees for the corresponding laws passed in 2019 and 2021, relating to renewable energies and nuclear power. While the second PPE was largely dominated by the question of the pace of reducing the share of nuclear energy in electricity production, this third version intends to prioritize nuclear power, while curbing the development of wind and solar power.
Plans drawn up without much detail regarding the financial arrangements. A vague understanding of the economic impact of such investments in France. This is the general observation, which is hardly reassuring given the sums involved.
Aside from the future design and construction of new reactors ( whose final design is not yet complete ), the nuclear sector faces expenses related, for example, to the annual operating costs of the existing fleet. While considered minor compared to the initial investment and expected to decrease continuously, these costs are actually increasing each year for an aging fleet due to so-called “refurbishment” investments and safety upgrades (the “major overhaul” plan). These are all bills to be paid, essential for ensuring the fleet’s operation beyond 40 or 50 years and beyond, and considerably larger than initially anticipated.
This is clearly considered in the numerous reports conducted by the Court of Auditors (CC) on EDF (
2012 report ,
updated in 2014 ,
2021 report ). Given the difficulty of extracting the precise elements for a comprehensive analysis of the situation from EDF’s financial reports, the Court’s reports prove to be a valuable journalistic contribution. Valuable, but still incomplete. The Court of Auditors itself admits that the reports are systematically produced with little cooperation from the national company: the CC emphasizes that projections sometimes had to be established “without EDF’s data,” disregarding “hidden costs,” “concealed amounts,” and “difficult calculations,” despite the various accounting methods that are always prone to significantly altering the evolution of the different parameters.
So much so that the CC finally admits to having to put forward the figures ‘with caution’, not without difficulty since EDF is playing with the withholding of sensitive information…………….
From this murky situation, Laure Noualhat takes on the almost sacred mission of reconstructing the future burden of nuclear power in France. And, in addition to the costs of the EPR2 reactors, it turns out that costs are also rising through operating expenses, maintenance investments, the cost of future expenses (decommissioning, waste and spent fuel management), changes in the fleet’s production, the level of economic lease payments…
This interview returns to the investment problems raised, the growing financial consequences of this technology, deemed totally unreasonable by Laure Noualhat.
Published in the Reporterre media collection , the bias with which the book could be accused easily falls away: the figures are corroborated by the Court of Auditors itself.
The goal would therefore be to find €200-250 billion, a conservative estimate reconstructed by Laure Noualhat. This is equivalent to the investment costs for the construction of the 58 existing civilian reactors (€106 billion in 2018; the two reactors at Fessenheim have since been shut down ). However, the national electricity provider remains heavily indebted (by approximately €54 billion) and cannot claim to finance the new nuclear program on its own. Furthermore, the cost has increased by 100% since the announcement in 2019 (the initial estimate was €52.7 billion). Undoubtedly, all of this will require guarantees from the State.
However, there is nothing very attractive about it for investors given the hypothetical financial returns which could be considered insufficient over a period running from the construction phase to the operation phase, i.e. more than 60 years.
The costs of existing reactors will increase, particularly in the event of generic defects, combined with the risks associated with the aging of the fleet that will inevitably come to light. This growth will be difficult to control and anticipate. Therefore, given the significant investments it may require, this issue has become urgent, as it will severely impact the budget.
The risk of insufficient performance of the nuclear fleet is among the most critical in the group’s risk assessment. It is directly affected by the occurrence of generic faults, which can reduce fleet availability while they are being addressed. This risk has been assigned the highest impact level and a control level ranging from medium to low.
It’s an open secret that all this is because the premature aging of internal materials and components has been known since 1986. The Energy Regulatory Commission itself noted that EDF believed that with the aging of the fleet, generic hazard problems would become more structural: this was the case during the episode of stress corrosion cracking discovered quite by chance, and there is reason to fear that others will occur.
Indeed. Just recently, an ASNR meeting revealed that new cracks measuring 2 to 3 millimeters had been detected and confirmed at the Civaux nuclear power plant on reactor 2 (1450 MW). The piping of the affected RRA circuit (the primary circuit under normal operating conditions) has reportedly already been dismantled and sent for analysis, suggesting that the cracks were detected well before this announcement. This specter of renewed stress corrosion cracking raises concerns about the technical and technological control of this accelerated aging process under irradiation and extreme operating conditions (temperature, pressure).
An already outdated figure
The Court of Auditors’ investigation into EDF is far from over. A new
report was just published at the end of September 2025. The findings are alarming: EDF faces a massive investment challenge of €460 billion over 15 years…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Protected like few others, supported by the political class, the nuclear sector deviates from certain minimal procedures in terms of accounting and transparent financing. It is decidedly not subject to any of the economic rules that prevail in other industrial sectors.
The aim of this investigation, led by Laure Noualhat, was to shed more light on the expenses generated by undebated political decisions. Mission accomplished.
Will these colossal investments put an end to the new nuclear program in France? https://homonuclearus.fr/nucleaire-compte-presque-bon/?utm_source=Homo+nuclearus&utm_campaign=3e0276f781-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_12_08_27_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_338d2a581d-3e0276f781-433658419
French navy shoots at 5 drones buzzing nuclear submarine base, AFP reports
The incident follows a string of recent drone incursions in NATO airspace
December 5, 2025 , By Marion Solletty, https://www.politico.eu/article/drones-france-nuclear-submarine-base-reports/
PARIS — The French navy opened fire at drones that were detected over a highly-sensitive military site harboring French nuclear submarines, according to newswire Agence France-Presse.
Five drones were detected Thursday night over the submarine base of Île Longue, in Brittany, western France, a strategic military site home to ballistic missile submarines, the AFP reported, citing the the French gendarmerie, which is part of the military. The submarines harbored at the base carry nuclear weapons and are a key part of France’s nuclear deterrent.
French navy troops in charge of protecting the base opened fire, the report said. It was unclear whether the drones were shot down.
Local authorities told the AFP a legal investigation had been launched and that the base wasn’t affected in its operations.
Drones had already been spotted in the area last month, albeit not directly above the base, per reports in French media. The site had been buzzed by drones long before the invasion of Ukraine.
The incident follows a string of recent drone incursions in NATO airspace, with unmanned aircrafts seen buzzing around sensitive military sites and civil infrastructures in recent months across Europe, including in Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Norway.
In Poland, fighter jets were scrambled in September to shoot down drones of Russian origin, an incident widely seen as an escalation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hybrid war on Europe.
French authorities haven’t yet commented on the suspected origin of the drone incident Thursday at the well-known military site.
Illegal drone shot down at nuclear submarine base
Officials are investigating an illegal drone which flew over the Atlantic coast base
Ap Correspondent, Independent UK, 05 December 2025
French authorities have launched an investigation into an unauthorised drone overflight of the nation’s nuclear-armed submarine base on the Atlantic coast.
The incident, confirmed by officials on Friday, involved multiple drones detected on Thursday night above the highly sensitive Île Longue base in Brittany, western France.
This strategic facility serves as the home port for France’s four nuclear ballistic missile submarines: Le Triomphant, Le Téméraire, Le Vigilant, and Le Terrible.
While French media reported several aerial intruders, military authorities have refrained from disclosing their exact number or type.
Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin confirmed that personnel at the base successfully intercepted the overflight. However, she did not specify whether this involved firing shots, electronic jamming, or other countermeasures. The identity of those responsible for the incursion remains unclear.
Ms Vautrin stated: “Any overflight of a military site is prohibited in our country. I want to commend the interception carried out by our military personnel at the Île Longue base.”
A number of European Union member countries have reported mysterious drone flights in their airspace in recent months. Some led to airport shutdowns, disrupting commercial flights. Others have been detected near or over military facilities………………………….. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/drone-france-brittany-nuclear-base-b2879026.html
France & UK Still Insist On Sending Troops To Ukraine, In Effort To Sabotage Trump Peace Plan
by Tyler Durden, Tuesday, Dec 02, 2025 ,https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/france-uk-still-insist-sending-troops-ukraine-effort-sabotage-trump-peace-plan
As we reported earlier, the important Miami meeting wherein American and Ukrainian delegations hammered out a revised ceasefire draft for some five hours on Sunday did not have European participation. But this is where the real deal-making is taking place. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is en route to Moscow, where he’s expected to meet with President Putin on Tuesday, in order to present where things stand on the peace plan.
The Miami meeting reportedly focused on where the new de facto border would be in the east, after the 19-point plan featured significant territorial concessions in the Donbass and Crimea. As for Europe, is still touting a “coalition of the willing” which are vowing ongoing military support to the Zelensky government.
At this moment, France and the United Kingdom especially are continuing to push for the deployment of troops from NATO-member states to Ukraine as part of their version of peace settlement, despite this being very obviously unacceptable to Moscow.
Last week Politico reported that when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined a discussion involving the coalition of the willing via phone call, he made clear to all that the White House wants a peace agreement in place before committing to any long-term security guarantees for Kiev.
But UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer tried to push back, arguing that a “multinational force” would be essential for ensuring Ukraine’s future security.
Bloomberg then followed with a report saying that UK officials have already selected the military units they plan to deploy, based on several reconnaissance trips to Ukraine.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron proposed that such troops could operate in the capital area or western regions of the country, far from the front lines. But this would flagrantly cross all Russia’s red lines. NATO troops on its doorstep was key Putin’s decision-making in launching the ‘special military operation’ in the first place.
It must be recalled that the original US-drafted 28-point peace plan, which leaked to the press and more recently was condensed down to 19 points, included an explicit prohibition on deploying NATO troops to Ukraine.
The European-proposed counter-plan, which was also quickly leaked to the media, greatly softened that stance and laid out that instead of a blanket ban, NATO would not “permanently station troops under its command in Ukraine in peacetime.”
At a moment Trump’s peace plan advances, and with Witkoff on his way to meet with President Putin, hawks in Europe are growing even more hawkish:
Such intentionally vague language leaves open the possibility of NATO troop rotations into Ukraine. The Kremlin has time and again said it would not tolerate this, and such a move would lead to direct war with the West.
Europe’s plan also seeks to leave open a Ukrainian path to NATO, but this is also a sticking point which the US plan leaves out, given it would of course be dead on arrival if presented to Putin.
France’s EDF again sends spent uranium to state-owned Russian firm for recycling
France’s EDF again sends spent uranium to state-owned Russian firm for
recycling. A shipment of reprocessed uranium from French nuclear power
plants has left the Channel port of Dunkirk to be enriched at a specialised
Russian industrial plant run by the country’s nuclear energy group Rosatom,
before being in part returned to France for further use in civil reactors.
The shipment, loaded at the weekend on a Russian-operated,
Panama-registered cargo vessel, was described by Greenpeace as a “cargo of shame”, and “immoral”, while both French utility giant EDF, which
operates the country’s nuclear power plants, and the French economy
ministry, declined to comment. Jade Lindgaard reports.
Mediapart 18th Nov 2025, https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/ecologie/181125/frances-edf-again-sends-spent-uranium-state-owned-russian-firm-recycling
Greenpeace claims French resumption of nuclear trade with Russia
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace hit out at the resumption of nuclear trade between France and Russia during its war with Ukraine after activists observed the loading of a tanker in northern France with reprocessed uranium bound for Russia.
RFI 18/11/2025
Greenpeace published video that it said its activists shot on Saturday of around 10 containers with radioactive labels going onto a cargo ship in Dunkirk.
The Panamanian-registered ship, the Mikhail Dudin, is regularly used to carry enriched or natural uranium from France to St Petersburg, according to Greenpeace.
Saturday’s consignment was the first of reprocessed uranium to be observed for three years, it added.
“The resumption of this trade once again shows France’s dependence on Russia,” Pauline Boyer, the head of Greenpeace France’s nuclear campaign, told RFI.
The images released by Greenpeace came two days ahead of a meeting in Paris between the French president, Emmanuel Macron and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to discuss Ukraine’s air defence systems.
“Despite the French government’s commitments to support Ukraine — which is, fortunately, the case — on the other hand, there is ongoing collaboration with Rosatom, the Russian nuclear company, which is indirectly contributing to the financing of the war.”
…………………………..”It is outrageous that French nuclear companies — EDF, Orano, Framatome — continue to collaborate with Rosatom.”
French state-controlled energy giant Electricité de France (EDF) signed a 600-million-euro deal in 2018 with a Rosatom subsidiary, Tenex, for the recycling of reprocessed uranium.
These operations have not been affected by international sanctions over the Ukraine war.
Rosatom has the only facility in the world – at Seversk in Siberia – capable of carrying out key parts of the conversion of reprocessed uranium to enriched reprocessed uranium……………..
Only about 10 percent of the reenriched uranium sent back to France by Russia is used at its Cruas nuclear power plant, in southern France, the only one in the country that can use enriched reprocessed uranium, according to Greenpeace.
France’s energy ministry and EDF have yet to respond publicly to questions on the consignment or trade.
Top politicians in France ordered EDF chiefs to halt uranium trade with Rosatom in 2022 when Greenpeace France revealed the contracts in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine……
https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20251118-greenpeace-claims-french-resumption-of-nuclear-trade-with-russia
EDF boss vows to speed up nuclear projects and narrow gap to Asian peers
EDF’s new boss has vowed to speed up the delivery of new nuclear reactors in an increasingly competitive market, after costly overshoots in the past weighed on the French energy group.
The company wants to use the
development of the UK’s Sizewell C nuclear power station to show that huge reactors capable of powering millions of homes can be delivered at speed, in the hope that this will help it attract private funding and compete with more efficient rivals, including those from Asia.
Bernard Fontana, chief executive, said the state-owned group remained “open to international markets” and hoped to export more of its designs beyond the projects it is undertaking in the UK and France. EDF has been tasked with
delivering at least six new French reactors from 2038 onwards and is due to deliver two for the £38bn Sizewell C project in the middle to late 2030s.
Fontana’s push for efficiency comes as EDF, weighed down by a net debt of €50bn, needs to finance €30bn of investments annually over the next five years, including on maintaining current sites, according to estimates by France’s budget watchdog. EDF operates 57 French reactors.
FT 9th Nov 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/cc39da49-6ebf-40e2-bfbe-296ee2596ce9
Can France’s nuclear legacy weather climate change?
The delicate-looking water primrose, an invasive aquatic plant with golden, daisy-like flowers,brought unit 4 at the 3.6 GW Cruas nuclear power plant in southern France to a grinding halt.
In recent years, extreme heat, droughts and warmer
rivers have repeatedly disrupted operations, forcing EDF to reduce output
or shut down reactors at sites along the Garonne and the Rhone. During the
record 2022 heatwave, the government even issued exceptional exemptions so several plants could temporarily exceed environmental discharge limits to avoid potential blackouts.
What’s driving the concern?
River temperatures regularly reaching regulatory thresholds; More frequent
droughts limiting cooling water; Increased ecological pressure on already
stressed river basins; Data showing production cuts clustering in summer
when demand is highest.
France’s Court of Auditors and climate agencies
warn that such shutdowns could become three to four times more common by 2050. EDF says annual impacts remain small overall, but seasonal risks are rising. With an ageing fleet and new reactors planned, the question is how resilient France’s nuclear system can remain in a rapidly warming climate
Montel News 30th Oct 2025, https://montelnews.com/news/2e2e5374-e4ef-433a-ac00-1f2d049478c0/can-france-s-nuclear-legacy-weather-climate-change-2
“It is unacceptable that the EDF tariff reform is being adopted quietly, to the detriment of the users”
With electricity bills reaching record highs and 7 million people facing
energy poverty, it’s time to acknowledge the failure of a model. Twenty
years of brutal energy sector liberalization have failed to bring about
either lower prices or the investment promised by private operators in
exchange for regulated access to historical nuclear electricity (ARENH).
Created in 2011 to allow alternative suppliers to purchase EDF’s nuclear
production at a fixed and highly advantageous price, this mechanism was
supposed to generate sustainably competitive offers. On the contrary, it
has led to instability, private rent-seeking, industrial fragmentation, and
debt for EDF.
Le Monde 29th Oct 2025,
https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2025/10/29/il-est-inacceptable-que-la-reforme-des-tarifs-d-edf-soit-adoptee-discretement-au-detriment-des-usagers_6650111_3232.html
Furious French fairies challenge nuclear plans.
Frogtifa is just catching on in Portland, but French protesters have used street theatre for years. This summer’s anti-nuclear actions were no exception, reports Reseau sortir du nucléaire
Editor’s note: In her forthcoming book — No To Nuclear. Why Nuclear Power Destroys Lives, Derails Climate Progress and Provokes War — to be published by Pluto Press next March, Linda Pentz Gunter describes the creative resistance of French protesters, including the anti-nuclear movement. “The French anti-nuclear movement,” she writes, “has engaged in protests that deliver considerable numbers, abundant creativity — and sometimes a lot of useful tractors as well. France also has a long theatrical tradition, and French anti-nuclear activists have invariably embraced that as well. They understand that street theater is an attention-getter. They also know it makes protesting a lot more fun.” The chapter features the “goat ZAD” mobilized by the Piscine Nucléaire Stop collective. Since then, they have “escalated,” as sortir du nucléaire describes in this article.
From July 18 to 20, 2025, in La Hague, “HARO” made its grand debut: three days of meetings and mobilization around nuclear waste and local communities. Nearly a thousand people from the Cotentin region and elsewhere responded to the call of the Piscine Nucléaire Stop collective to participate in round tables, workshops, concerts, screenings, hikes, and, of course, the big demonstration by the Fées furieuses (Furious Fairies). The event took place in a festive atmosphere of determination.
The name of the event set the tone: derived from Norman customary law, the interjection “Haro” was used to demand justice, even in the face of powerful oppressors. In the Cotentin Peninsula, it is Orano [owner of the La Hague reprocessing facility] that is attempting to impose its Aval du Futur mega-project.
The event, located on the La Hague plateau in a field lent by local farmers committed to the anti-nuclear cause, offered a breathtaking view of the Orano plant, when the fog didn’t interfere with the festivities. The typical La Hague weather did not discourage participants who had come from all over France to take part in meetings against waste, nuclear power, and the nuclear chain, with an intersectional approach………………………………………………………………………………..
The packed program then continued throughout the weekend: between round tables on feminist anti-nuclear struggles, discussions on ways of living in contaminated areas, workshops on the legacy of decolonial struggles, the manufacture of radio transceivers, etc., there was something for everyone.
As for the cooperative village [established for the events], it was as varied as the program itself: local and national associations committed to the anti-nuclear cause or installation projects such as Atomic Marney, social struggle associations such as France Palestine Solidarité (Cherbourg branch), citizen laboratories, bookstores, and collectives from other environmental struggles, such as local committees of Soulèvements de la Terre.
The most courageous, who wanted to venture outside the meeting site, sometimes in pouring rain, were able to take part in the Randos Radieuses (Radiant Walks)…………………………………………………………..
Within this cultural program, the fight against Cigéo [the French nuclear waste entity] was highlighted with the screening of a film recounting ten years of struggle: Vivre et lutter à Bure entre 2015 et 2025 (Living and Fighting in Bure between 2015 and 2025), the documentary Les Bombes atomiques (The Atomic Bombs), which recounts a feminist highlight of the struggle in Bure, and the film Après les Nuages (After the Clouds) by the collective Les Scotcheuses
The highlight of the weekend was a demonstration on Saturday afternoon against Aval du Futur and, more broadly, the ever-increasing nuclearization of the region. In keeping with its offbeat and militant approach, the Piscine Nucléaire Stop collective decided to draw on the local legend of the little fairies and their method of collective self-defense armed with heather and gorse to confront an offense: the paving over of the last remaining primary moors on the La Hague plateau and the accumulation of nuclear waste by Orano.
A thousand people gathered to march against Orano’s project. The procession left the camp in sunny weather and headed for the village of Vauville, accompanied by a police presence and a helicopter dispatched for the weekend.
In a family atmosphere, the demonstrators and little fairies danced to the sounds of the Planète Boum Boum collective, chanted slogans concocted for the occasion, and sang to the tune of a summer camp song: “In my beautiful Cotentin, there will be no MOX, no swimming pools either, and no concrete either.”
The links between the struggles in Bure and La Hague were strengthened during this event, culminating in a concert by the Bure-based band Les Free’meuses, during which the audience was moved by their latest cover of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort: “We are twin struggles… “
In various ways throughout the weekend, activists from the east and west reiterated that “we don’t want radioactive waste dumps in La Hague, Bure, or anywhere else!”
The weekend ended with an evening concert and a final HARO as a cry of convergence of struggles to support social and environmental struggles as well as the struggle of the Palestinian people.
This article was first published in French by the Reseau sortir du nucléaire, a national network of French anti-nuclear organizations.
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Livret A: Will part of French savings soon be used to finance nuclear power?
Traditionally, the money in the Livret A savings account is intended to support social housing and local public infrastructure.
This announcement comes as the government seeks to diversify funding sources for a nuclear program estimated at colossal sums
Le Monde De L’Energie 13th Oct 2025
This is a historic turning point for French public savings. The Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) has confirmed that a portion of the funds from the Livret A savings account could be used to finance the construction of new EPR nuclear reactors. This unprecedented move symbolizes the rapprochement between public finance, industrial strategy, and national energy sovereignty.
An unprecedented agreement between the State, EDF and the Caisse des Dépôts
Traditionally, the money in the Livret A savings account is intended to support social housing and local public infrastructure. But on Thursday, October 10, CDC CEO Olivier Sichel announced a major development: “We have reached an agreement with Bercy and EDF on using the Savings Fund.” This statement, made to the Association of Economic and Financial Journalists, marks the first official confirmation of the Livret A’s involvement in financing the French nuclear program.
This shift, both energy-related and financial, is part of the government’s desire to revive civil nuclear power. The state plans to build six new EPR reactors by 2038, at a total cost estimated at less than €100 billion, according to estimates by former Energy Minister Marc Ferracci.
A crucial step: the Brussels agreement
Before the transaction can become a reality, one key step remains: European approval. “The French government will present its proposal to Brussels to obtain approval for the overall financial model,” Olivier Sichel explained. The stakes are as much legal as they are political: the European Commission will have to verify that this financing scheme does not violate competition or state aid rules.
The Brussels agreement will make it possible to secure access to part of the Savings Fund, funded by French savings, while guaranteeing that investments remain safe and profitable for depositors.
A treasure of 400 billion euros at the nation’s disposal
The Caisse des Dépôts currently manages approximately €400 billion in regulated savings, collected in particular through the Livret A (Livret A), the Livret de développement durable et solidaire (LDDS) (Sustainable and Solidarity Savings Account), and the Livret d’épargne populaire (LEP) (People’s Savings Account). Just over half of these funds are already allocated to long-term loans to finance social housing or regional policies.
The remainder, invested in financial assets, could now contribute to financing the country’s energy infrastructure, including new nuclear reactors. “Nuclear power is obviously part of our energy sovereignty,” explained Olivier Sichel, adding that this direction aims to strengthen France’s capacity to produce stable, carbon-free electricity.
This announcement comes as the government seeks to diversify funding sources for a nuclear program estimated at colossal sums, in a context of constrained budgets and strong tension on the energy markets…………………………………..
this development is already raising questions. Some social housing stakeholders fear that this shift will reduce the funds available for their projects. ………….
Asked about financial risks, Olivier Sichel also warned of the tensions threatening global markets, particularly in the technology sector. “The colossal investments in artificial intelligence are drawing parallels with the internet bubble of the late 1990s,” he warned, urging caution.
A major turning point for public investment policy
By linking popular savings to the country’s energy strategy, the government and the Caisse des Dépôts are redefining the role of the Livret A savings account in the French economy. This investment, held by more than 55 million French people, is becoming not only a social financing tool, but also a pillar of industrial and energy recovery.
If Brussels gives the green light, France will usher in a new era: one in which every euro placed in a Livret A savings account could, indirectly, contribute to fueling the nation’s future nuclear reactors. …… https://www.lemondedelenergie.com/livret-une-partie-de-lepargne-des-francais-bientot-mobilisee-pour-financer-le-nucleaire/2025/10/13/
Gravelines: the Safety Expertise Department of ASNR’ damning opinion calls into question the EPR2
October 16, 2025, https://www.greenpeace.fr/espace-presse/gravelines-lavis-accablant-de-lasnr-remet-en-cause-les-epr2/
The Safety Expertise Department of ASNR, the nuclear safety and radiation protection authority, has just published a damning expert opinion on EDF’s project for the Gravelines power plant.
In addition to the already identified risks of submersion and flooding of the power plant, there is now the risk of soil settlement and liquefaction. The soil, which is designed to support the weight of the new EPR2 reactors, has “poor mechanical characteristics,” posing an unprecedented technical challenge regarding the robustness of the foundations over time and in the face of seismic hazards that could compromise nuclear safety.
“ This relentless opinion from the ASNR is further proof that the criteria for choosing sites for the construction of new EPR2 reactors are largely questionable. After underestimating the climate risks, EDF is underestimating the risk of building such a dangerous infrastructure on such unsuitable ground ,” emphasizes Pauline Boyer, nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace France. “This demonstrates once again the haste of EDF, which is rushing headlong into its plans to build new reactors in Gravelines. ”
A relentless opinion
In this opinion dated July 23, the ASNR severely rejects EDF’s copy of its first study of ground reinforcement on the Gravelines site, considering that the approach adopted by EDF is not sufficiently robust , ordering it to clarify the safety issues relating to ground reinforcement, to conduct new studies and to set up a monitoring system over time.
The opinion considers that the planned reinforcement of the ground at the Gravelines site constitutes “ a major technical challenge ” and that the system proposed by EDF is “of unprecedented scale, of great complexity and without representative feedback in France and internationally”.
A hard blow for EDF
The Gravelines nuclear power plant, built on a polder, is supposed to accommodate two new reactors (EPR2) as part of the nuclear recovery plan.
A year ago, Greenpeace published a report which, through mapping work projecting the rise in water levels in the Gravelines area until the end of the reactors’ lifespan, demonstrated that in 2100 and 2120, the entire Gravelines power plant site could be temporarily below sea level.
“The project to build new EPR2 reactors in Gravelines, EDF’s “seaside sandcastle,” is already sinking into quicksand. It’s time for EDF to make the most sensible decision: stop trying to build reactors at all costs, especially on such a vulnerable and unsuitable site, and invest this money in its renewable energy sector,” adds Pauline Boyer.
The difficulties and uncertainties of this nuclear construction project overlap, at the heart of an area accumulating risks (submersion, flooding, unsuitability of the soil, extreme climatic events, etc.). The 11-meter platform on which the EPR2 would be perched in an attempt to protect them from the risks of submersion and flooding (which Greenpeace always questions) makes the task even more difficult.
After the setbacks with the concrete intended for the construction of the future EPR2 in Penly, this is yet another example of EDF’s amateurism in wanting to build EPR2s in unsuitable areas without first carrying out a robust risk analysis.
Flamanville EPR: EDF anticipates limited power until 2031.
Flamanville EPR: EDF anticipates limited power until 2031. EDF has
informed the energy regulator that it has selected a final electrical power
output lower than that officially communicated. The reason: the hypothesis
of a deteriorated performance of the Normandy reactor, leading to a
restriction of its electricity production.
These are just five short lines
in a document of over 200 pages. But they are very important. In its report
on the cost of nuclear power, published Tuesday, September 30, the Energy
Regulatory Commission (CRE) addresses the issue of the electrical power of
the Flamanville 3 EPR, the restart of which was recently postponed until
mid-October, after numerous delays since its shutdown last June following a
leak in a primary circuit protection valve.
The energy regulator explains
that the production of Flamanville 3 is difficult to predict due to the
level of uncertainty over the timetable for the continuation of reactor
tests. Above all, it specifies that in terms of “the final nominal
electrical power of the EPR, EDF declared to the CRE a power 35 megawatts
(MW) lower than the power declared in the public data framework . “
La Tribune 7th Oct 2025, https://www.latribune.fr/article/entreprises-finance/energie-environnement/10816924410568/epr-de-flamanville-edf-anticipe-une-puissance-bridee-jusquen-2031
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