French Academy of Science is the leading scientific authority in France
Texte intégral : https://www.academie-sciences.fr/pdf/rapport/20210614_avis_nucleaire.pdf
Extraits
1) The energy transition:
"The energy transition, to be implemented to limit our greenhouse gas
emissions and the global warming that results from it, must result in:
- a reduction in our energy consumption per person; - a reduction in our
dependence on fossil fuels, primarily coal and oil, and secondly gas;
- an increase in the share of
low-carbon energy sources (renewable energies and nuclear energy); These
developments will inevitably lead to a significant increase in the share of
electricity in energy production and consumption, reaching a level of around 700 to 900 TWh (terawatts-hour) in 2050,
almost double our current electricity production. This electricity
must be as decarbonised as possible.
Comment: As the Academy of Technologies had
already noticed, this level of 700 to 900 TW.h confirms that the Multiannual
Energy Programmation Law (PPE) must be
seriously reviewed. (650 TW.h). As well as all the scenarios, eg @RTE that rely
on it.
2) Renewable energies: "Intermittent and variable renewable
energies, such as wind and solar photovoltaics, cannot, on their own, supply an
electricity grid with power in a stable and controllable way if their
random nature is not compensated. This requires massive energy storage
capacities and/or controllable backup power generation units. The massive
storage of energy, other than that already carried out by means of
pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations,
would require capacities that are not seen to exist in the coming decades.
Pilotability, in the absence of the latter, can only be ensured by nuclear
power stations, if we exclude thermal power stations using fossil fuels..
3) Nuclear and CO2 : "A conventional RNT (Thermal Neutron
Reactor) massively injects, 24 hours a day, at least for some 300 days a year,
decarbonized electricity into the grid. Nuclear power generation is, in fact,
of all sources of electrical energy, the least emitter of greenhouse gases
(about 6 grams of CO2 equivalent per kWh produced). »
4) Nuclear and environmental impacts : "A comprehensive life cycle analysis of
electrical systems shows that the non-radioactive environmental impacts of
nuclear power are most often much lower than those of other systems. As far as
radiological impacts are concerned, they remain, in normal working conditions, much
lower than those associated with natural radioactivity. On the other hand,
those linked to major nuclear accidents have necessitated the evacuation of
large areas in order to avoid extraordinary radiological exposures and have had
serious social and environmental consequences. Feedback from these accidents
has led to successive improvements in reactor safety. Since 2011, EPR-type
reactors, third generation pressurized water reactors (EPRs), have been
designed to minimize the accidental release of radioactivity into the
environment, thanks to technological provisions and more stringent safety
regulations
5) Nuclear Waste: "Medium- and high-level waste
with a long life, which is the most delicate to manage, has a volume of the
order of 1.4 m3/TWh electric for the French fleet (the total volumes of this
waste since the beginning of the nuclear era are respectively 42,700 m3 and
4,090 m3). The inventory of all the waste from the French nuclear fleet is
regularly updated by the National Agency for the Management of Radioactive
Waste (Andra)...
Deep geological
storage, under conditions of safety and reversible management, controlled by
the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), is well suited to long-lived waste. In this
context, the application for the creation of Cigéo (Industrial Center for
Geological Storage), after twenty years of research by the national scientific
community, is ready to be filed with the Ministry of Ecological Transition to be examined by the ASN
"
6) RNRs (breeder reactors): From the
beginning of the program, the nuclear power policy aimed at the possibility of
installing a fleet of fast neutron reactors (RNR) in order to make better use
of uranium resources and thus extend the production of nuclear power... The
most mature RNR model is a reactor using liquid sodium as the heat transfer
fluid for energy: RNR-Na. The feedback from these reactors is important,
especially in France, which operated Phoenix, Superphénix and led for 10 years
the Astrid project foreshadowing the fourth generation RNR (RNR GenIV).
The Multiannual Energy Programming (PPE) has recently postponed to the
next century a deployment of the RNR, leading to the abandonment of the ASTRID
project of the CEA. As a standby strategy, it decided to move towards the
multirecycling of plutonium from spent fuel in NTRs, particularly EPR reactors.
This strategy is intended to maintain France's R&D expertise to move
towards the RNRs. It can stabilize the quantities of spent fuel but does not
lead to the energy autonomy as sought with the RNR.
7) Recommendations:
- to maintain the nuclear power
capacity of France's energy mix by extending the reactors in operation, when
their operation is ensured under conditions of optimum safety, and by building
third-generation reactors, the EPRs, in the immediate future. The latter
are based on the best technology currently available and offer the best
guarantees of safety;
- initiate and support an
ambitious R&D program on the nuclear of the future in order to prepare for
the emergence in France of innovative fourth generation fast neutron reactors (RNR),
which constitute a solution for the future and whose study is actively
continuing abroad;
- to take into account in this programme all the scientific aspects of
fuel recycling associated with reactors, including the management of radioactive
waste;
- maintain training courses to
attract the best young talents in all fields of physics, chemistry, engineering
and nuclear technologies to develop national skills at the highest level;
- inform the public
in full transparency about the constraints of the various energy sources, the complete analysis of their
life cycle and the contribution of nuclear power in the current energy
transition.
