Surprise!! French Nuke Giant EDF Says Bad Move if France Turns Away from Nuclear

[kristopher]

EDF hopes for "common sense" in French nuclear debate
By Caroline Jacobs and Benjamin Mallet

PARIS | Tue Nov 8, 2011 7:51am EST

Nov 8 (Reuters) - The French economy would suffer the consequences if the nation decided to cut back on nuclear power generation, the head of French utility EDF said at a seminar on Tuesday.
....

Surprise Again!!! French Nuclear Giant EDF says Financial Ruin and Massive Shift to Fossil Fuels are Only Alternative to Their Radioactive Product

"Today it's not possible to efficiently replace the nuclear park without having to massively switch to gas or coal," Proglio said at the French Electricity Union's (UFE) seminar on France's choices for future electricity supplies.

What's the Red Flag for this "bull"?
"France's ruling UMP party wants to keep nuclear energy despite growing opposition after Fukushima, while Socialist presidential hopeful Francois Hollande has promised to cut nuclear power output capacity by 25-50 percent by 2025."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/edf-nuclear-idUSL6E7M82AI20111108

And behind that, the polling tells us that nuclear is barely more popular in France than it is in Germany - and we know what happened there.

[kristopher]

1. EU's REVE respectfully disagrees...

...According to the negaWatt experts, it would indeed be possible to totally forgo nuclear in France. And this as of 2033, please. Engineers in the sector have described this energy outlook in a well-crafted script. The guiding principle? A trilogy of "sobriety-efficiency-renewable energy". During this "energy transition," the economies in petrol imports generated by the scenario would mean savings of more than 750 billion by 2050 and the creation of 600,000 jobs by 2020.

"The goal can only be achieved through a combination of energy efficiency and replacing other energies with renewable energy,"states Thierry Lepercq, who notes the "very interesting perspective opened up by this scenario with what has become known as 'Power-to-Gas', the large-scale storage of intermittent renewable electricity (solar and wind) in the form of hydrogen-based synthetic methane derived from water electrolysis." This is the photovoltaic industry's trump card – where "Goodbye nuclear" resonates with "Hello, solar energy." According to negaWatt, by 2050, 91% of France's electricity will come from renewable energy – there's how a single number can light up the future of photovoltaics.

For Thierry Lepercq, this is a certainty: the prospect of nuclear power reduction contributes more towards the development of PV than all the subsidies granted to the sector. "In addition to energy efficiency efforts, the simple fact of reducing nuclear from 75% to 50% would mean that in the future approximately 150 TWh more would have to be produced using alternative energy sources," he says. "This is significant!" In his opinion, given the current serious financial situation in France, there is no way this transition will be made using energy subsidies. So there is only significant room for solar if it is competitive, "which is practically the case at the present time."

The expert goes even further, stating: "Most of this 150 TWh will only be obtainable from solar energy." Why? "Well, because it is the only energy that can provide the volumes and costs, whilst at the same time being socially accepted and environmentally necessary!" In this regard, it will of course be necessary to address the issue of network intermittency and stability, "which is technically and economically more than feasible."

http://www.evwind.es/noticias.php?id_not=14572


REVE Project - http://www.evwind.es/contenidos.php?id_cont=12

REVE is a project of
National Plan for Scientific Research,
Development and Technological Innovation, 2008-2011
Strategic Action Plan for Energy and Climate Change
File no. ECC- 590000-2008-141