France to build 2 GW of offshore wind power as costs of nuclear exposed

EWEA Blog »  The three sites will include a total of approximately 240 turbines and orders will run on a site-by-site basis starting in 2014, following completion of feasibility and impact studies for each project, said Alstom.

The French Court of Auditors recently published a report revealing that the cost of producing nuclear energy will surge in France as old plants need updating and new safety standards make new plants much more expensive to construct: Fessenheim, a nuclear plant in the Alsace region built in 1977 cost €1.07 million per MW of capacity whereas the EPR (European Pressurised Reactor) nuclear plant in Flamanville will cost €3.7 million per MW. The cost of producing electricity made in EPR plants like Flamanville will also be significantly more expensive, says the report.

Meanwhile, the French public’s deepening lack of trust of nuclear power was discussed in a programme on the television channel France 5 on Tuesday evening. The programme “Nuclear, the Human Bomb” examined the impact of Fukushima on the nuclear debate in France and asked what the French state is doing to ensure the safety of its nuclear reactors.