The French power company EDF has announced that the restart of several decommissioned nuclear reactors has been delayed. And in some cases until June next year. This is due to delays during maintenance.
France is planning extensive postponements
This puts French nuclear output at its lowest level in 30 years. According to the revised plan currently published, the restart of the 1.3Gigawatt Penly 2 reactor has been delayed by 4.5 months until 11 June 2023. A similar deferral of restart also applies to the Golfech reactor of the same capacity. The other reactors are to come on line gradually in February and March.
Power cuts coming, gas to help
Some of those that were shut down this spring have already been returned to service, but EDF’s ageing plants will run well below optimum capacity this winter. It is therefore very likely that there will be power outages as demand increases due to heating but supply is not keeping up with generation. The lack of electricity from nuclear reactors means that France has to generate electricity from gas, which puts pressure on pumping natural gas from European reservoirs. This will mean a higher need for gas to fill them after the end of this heating season.
