France to shut down oldest nuclear power plant by summer

Move is ‘first phase’ in Macron’s 30-year energy strategy

Fessenheim nuclear power plant has been operating since 1977 and is France's oldest nuclear power plant (AFP/Getty)

French prime minister Edouard Philippe has said France’s oldest nuclear power station will be shut down at the end of June, with one of its reactors to be closed this weekend.

In a statement on Wednesday he said the decision was “the first phase” of France’s energy strategy set out in 2018 by president Emmanuel Macron.

The plan calls for a rebalancing of nuclear-produced energy and electricity derived from renewable sources. Coal plants are to be closed by 2022 to reduce greenhouse gases, the statement said.

Activity at Reactor No 1 at the Fessenheim nuclear reactor, on the border with Germany, will be halted on Saturday and the entire complex will stop energy generation on 30 June, the government said.

Germany has long called for the plant, France’s oldest, to be shut down. It is the first nuclear complex to be closed under Mr Macron’s plan.

France depends more on nuclear energy than any other country, getting about three-quarters of its electricity from the plants.

Mr Macron said in 2018, outlining France’s energy strategy for the next 30 years, that 14 nuclear reactors out of the 58 now running at 19 plants will be shut down by 2035. France would cap the amount of electricity it derives from nuclear plants at 50 per cent by then.

Associated Press