Strikes in recent months against pension reform at French nuclear power plants do not call into question EDF’s production target for 2023, the group said on Thursday.
The industrial action affected not only production but also the maintenance of power plants, raising fears of major delays in the schedule for reactor shutdowns, hence the downward revision of the group’s nuclear production target to a range of 300 to 330. Terawatt-hour (TWh).
“The impact of the strikes is not significant enough to jeopardize our production margin”, a spokesman said, reiterating reports originally published by Les Echos. EDF, in a complete renationalisation process, already maintained its target of 300 to 330 TWh in mid-March, after a revision of its inspection and repair plan related to corrosion problems in some reactors, about which the Safety Authority (ASN) has not yet issued a final opinion.
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After a winter in which the government called for ‘moderation’ to avoid blackouts, the group is under pressure to replace its nuclear power generation in the country, which has fallen to its lowest level since 1988 at 279 TWh in 2022. EDF management has estimated production losses linked to the strikes at nearly one billion euros, according to sources interviewed by Reuters.
