Nuclear Power in France - Considerations

Considerations

France's nuclear reactors comprise 90 per cent of EDFs capacity and so they are used in load-following mode and some reactors close at weekends because there is no market for the electricity. This means that the capacity factor is low by world standards, usually in the high seventies as a percentage. This is not an ideal economic situation for nuclear plants, but is required due to the load-following nature of some reactors.

During periods of high demand EDF has been routinely "forced into the relatively expensive spot and short-term power markets because it lacks adequate peak load generating capacity". France heavily relies on electric heating, with about one third of existing and three quarters of new houses using electric space heating due to the low off-peak tariffs offered. Due to this residential heating demand, about 2.3 GW of extra power is needed for every degree Celsius of temperature drop. This means that during cold snaps, French electricity demand increases dramatically, forcing the country to import at full capacity from its neighbours during peak demand. In February 2012, Germany "came to the rescue of France during last week's cold snap by massively exporting electricity to its neighbour, silencing critics who slammed Berlin last year for abruptly shutting down 8 nuclear reactors after the Fukushima disaster". (Germany uses a variety of heating methods including gas and fuel oil heaters).

However nations, such as France, that do not solely rely on fossil fuels and biomass for heating, tend to have superior air quality, and therefore lower pollution related deaths, which are a leading cause of early mortality. For example, outdoor fossil fuel and biomass pollution, from particulate matter alone, kill approximately 1 million people every year according to the World Health Organization. The level of atmospheric particulate matter, small enough to enter and cause damage to the lungs –is 13 micrograms per cubic meter in France, cleaner than the air in Germany, were the particulate air pollution is higher at 16 micrograms per cubic meter.

All but four of EDFs plants are inland and require fresh water for cooling. Eleven of these 15 inland plants have cooling towers, using evaporative cooling, while the others use lake or river water directly. So in very hot summers, generation output may be restricted.

In 2008, nuclear power accounted for 16% of final energy consumption in France. As is common in all industrialized nations, Fossil fuels still dominate World energy consumption, particularly in the transportation and heating sectors. Nuclear constitutes a higher level of total energy consumption in France than in any other country. In 2001, nuclear power accounted for 37% of the total energy consumption in France. In 2011 France consumed ~ 11 Quadrillion BTU's of energy according to the Energy Information Administration. ~ 11 Quadrillion BTU's is equivalent to 3224 TWh.

Another critique of the French situation is that it may have over-invested in nuclear power plants, which has meant that electricity has to be sold to other countries when French electricity demand is low or "dumped" on the French market, encouraging the use of electricity for space heating and water heating. This can be regarded as an economically wasteful practice. However as the adoption of Electric Cars, such as the French Renault Fluence Z.E., over combustion engined vehicles increases, reducing France's Fossil fuel dependence, France's comparatively cheap peak and off peak electricity prices, will act as a strong customer incentive that will spur the rapidity of the adoption of electric vehicles; essentially turning the current perceived glut of cheap Nuclear power generated electricity into an asset as demand for electric vehicle recharging stations becomes more and more commonplace.

With cars charging overnight, the utilities would get a new market for their product - Michael Kintner Meyer of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory discussing maximizing the economic use of the comparable inefficiency problem of off peak idle capacity in Coal power plants.

Due to France's relatively low emission producing electricity grid, the total life cycle carbon dioxide emissions from an electric car, charged by the French electricity grid are 12g per kilometer travelled. This compares more favorably than the direct emissions emitted from one of the most successful hybrid cars, the Toyota Prius, which produces carbon dioxide emissions at the higher rate of 105g per kilometer travelled.