“At that time, there were two reactions: the reaction of those who thought it was a crisis […] to which we had to respond with circumstantial measures such as, for example, the ban on driving on Sundays and a certain number of measures of the same kind which we have not taken, and those who, like us, thought that it was It was about a profoundly new situation in the world, that is to say new relations between the producers of raw materials, in particular of oil, and the consumers of raw materials, including ourselves. Those thought that it was necessary in the face of this situation to take meditated, thoughtful and long-term measures.
We are in March 1974. France, like all the major economies of the time, was hit by a major energy crisis, born of the decision of the oil-producing Arab countries to quadruple the price of a barrel of crude in a few months. To suffer, to restrict, to prohibit or to change the data of the problem, the framework of thought and to act in the long term: such is the choice that the leaders of the time had to make, starting with Pierre Messmer, then Prime Minister. Because it was he who had his words that resonate today in a very contemporary way, at a time when France is again plunged into a major energy crisis, he who decided to launch the French nuclear power program, taking France out of an infernal energy equation that jeopardized all the post-war reconstruction work.
Curl up or shine again: the elements of choice are the same today. The Malthusians are always there to explain that the battle is lost even before it is waged, that man can do nothing in the face of the limits of resources, and are already distributing hair shirts. And when American researchers have the bad taste to achieve a scientific feat in the field of nuclear fusion, insolently recalling the infinite resources of the human mind, they prefer to look at their white hand, glued to the asphalt, on a morning of December on the Paris ring road – to demand, let’s remember, one of the rare transition measures that enjoys unanimous support.
The others, those who believe in the radiant future of this abundant, low-carbon energy that is the guarantor of our energy sovereignty that is nuclear power, you will hardly see them on social networks. Or, rather, if you see them in front of the camera, it is because they have been summoned by the National Assembly’s commission of inquiry into energy sovereignty and independence, which is currently hearing the small world of nuclear power to shed light on the reasons for the worrying state of our fleet. You have to watch these cathartic hearings, listen to every word: France, through these testimonies, sober or caustic, before the national representation, is in the process of making its analysis, of dissecting nearly twenty-five years of a cycle of renunciations, non-decisions or bad decisions, head-to-tail and small electoral arrangements, which the President of the Republic has decided to leave in Belfort in February 2021.
Some will choose to underline the nuclear inconstancy of Emmanuel Macron. Since we now have to rebuild France’s nuclear radiation, let’s rather rejoice that he has understood the importance of being constant when a long-term industry is at stake. A long time that is embodied in a certain number of recent appointments to strategic positions for the sector, entrusted to personalities from the world of defence. Because if there is an institution, and an industry, which has managed to keep this long sense of time, it is the armed forces. Another sign of this return of civilian nuclear power to the fold of major strategic decisions is the essential role played by TechnicAtome, the key player in military nuclear power, in the design of the innovative model of the small modular reactor, this famous SMR which will make it possible to diversify the range of reactor technologies.
Because it is the ability to see far that will condition France’s ability to remain the largest nuclear country. No bullshit in this assertion, but a cold diagnosis: France is the only country on the planet to have industrial control of the entire nuclear value chain, from uranium extraction to processing. garbage. Here again, let’s forget the media brouhaha to listen to the scientific consensus: the deep geological disposal of long-lived high-level waste has been validated by the entire international scientific community, and France can be proud of the Cigéo project, which is currently crossing decisive steps towards its implementation, when the United States is stuck on the Yucca Mountain project and the Germans are back to square one after the failure of the Gorleben project.
Similarly, at a time when the world is becoming aware of the dependence, particularly American, on the Russian uranium enrichment industry, it is worth remembering that, thanks to the vista of Anne Lauvergeon, France was able to access, at the critical moment, the technology of enrichment by centrifugation. These two examples are not taken by chance: if the public debate focuses exclusively on the decisions to be taken in the construction of new reactors, the urgency is no less in terms of investment in our enrichment or processing of spent fuel.
To see far, but to decide quickly: such is indeed the subtle equation to solve. The race against time is on. The name of the bill on the acceleration of nuclear power says it all, even if it is to be hoped that the parliamentary debate will make it possible to pass it from the Intercités to the TGV, as recalled in unison the industrialists met on December 14 before the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee. The image of the leaders of the sector – EDF, Orano, the CEA – aligned around the same discourse, the same objective says a lot about the seriousness of the moment and the strength of the mobilization of the actors. The page is turned from the titanic quarrels between people and structures. Today, the energy of the sector is focused on other issues: it is necessary to recruit, train, attract.
Extending the lifetime of a reactor and improving its safety performance requires 4,000 people per site for several months; the construction of a reactor, from 7,500 to 10,000 engineers and technicians for several years. The needs are colossal: the human challenge is obviously the key to success. From welders to researchers, at the very least 30,000 people will have to be attracted, trained and retained within ten years. The good news: young people are present. The real activism of the young generation in favor of the climate is unfolding, at the moment, at the school of welders in Cherbourg, in the Framatome factory in Saint-Marcel, on the campus of recycling professions of Melox, at Orano . The difficulties on the EDF fleet will have done more to popularize the welding profession, which has become devilishly trendy, than all the communication campaigns via TikTok or Instagram…
Political support, long-term approach, aligned and committed players: the ingredients for success have come together, especially since, poll after poll, public opinion overwhelmingly supports this return to nuclear power. Let’s be clear: France will not replay the sequence of years from 1973 to 1994. Different times, different customs: several technologies, even several operators will emerge from the political and industrial choices that will be made in the months and years to come, as well as nuclear uses will diversify (heat, decarbonization of industry). Nostalgia has no place, no more than again : History never repeats dishes. That of the new French nuclear cycle therefore remains to be written, with patience… but not without passion. Perhaps the missing ingredient in the impressionist picture that is still French nuclear policy. However, let’s not forget, “nothing great has been accomplished without passion”!
