San Francisco Frontiers - France bets on nuclear power to phase out fossil fuels

France wants to phase out fossil fuels by 2050, and is hoping consumers will switch from burning oil and gas to consuming more low-carbon electricity in order to do so.

The plan for 2025 to 2035 foresees more use of the country's 57 nuclear power plants and the construction of six new ones, as well as more energy from offshore wind farms.

But it aims to rely less on solar parks and land-based wind farms.

The move is a reversal from a plan for 2019 to 2024, which had called for shutting down several of France's nuclear reactors.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the scheme was key to avoiding dependence on other countries for fossil fuels.

"There is no scenario in which we can be dependent," he said on a visit to a hydroelectric dam in eastern France.

He said failing to move forward with the phaseout of fossil fuels "was becoming fundamentally dangerous for our sovereignty, for our ability to produce".

Oil and gas still account for 60 percent of France's energy consumption and cost France 64 billion euros ($75 billion) in imports in 2024.

They fuel global warming and keep France dependent on other countries, including Russia and the United States.

According to the plan, the goal is for no more than 40 percent of energy consumed to be based on fossil fuel by 2030.

The use of nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels is highly controversial, however, with many environmental groups warning about safety risks and the disposal of nuclear waste.

France in December released a revamped roadmap to become carbon neutral by 2050.

The updated strategy was unveiled on the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the landmark climate accord designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming well below 2C, with efforts toward 1.5C.

France's updated National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC-3) foresees the end of oil use between 2040 and 2045. Fossil gas would be phased out by 2050.

C.Lewis--SFF