The contrast is striking. Only two years ago, the Express pointed out the taboo of world leaders regarding the use of nuclear power to fight against climate change. What roads we travelled ever since. With the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the imperative of decarbonization, the atom is enjoying a spectacular comeback.
A dynamic that should in theory benefit EDF. And yet. Far from surfing the wave, the former tricolor atom champion has been stagnating for two years. Its financial situation is still critical – nearly 50 billion euros in debt; its fleet of 56 reactors recorded a sad record on August 28, with the lowest level of production ever reached; the Flamanville site is endless and that of Hinkley Point is now 18 months behind schedule. His reorganization project is blocked somewhere between the Élysée and Brussels.
For lack of a coherent vision on the part of its majority state shareholder for almost twenty years, EDF is not approaching this new cycle from a position of strength. Faced with the agility of new players, and the changing needs of States and companies towards smaller reactors and/or delivered quickly and at a competitive cost, the EDF liner gives the impression of being too heavy, too slow, too expensive.
For lack of a contribution of fresh money, EDF will not be able to engage in the race for innovation in which indulge American start-ups force-fed with public and private capital. In the absence of an ambitious reform allowing it to regain its industrial excellence, it can only dream of the performance of the Chinese and Russian mastodons which build more than a dozen reactors a year. A task to which the future CEO will have to focus on his arrival. In Poland, the Czech Republic, Great Britain or even India, the public group is still in the running for the construction of a dozen EPRs. The State must ensure that it will not be a swan song but the beginning of the renaissance.