
Post-COVID nuclear investments in France
We all agree that our economy took a massive hit with the pandemic. All the sectors – maybe with the notable exception of e-retail – saw drastic losses in their revenues, many factories had to shut down for at least few months. For instance, between January and December 2020, France saw a 8.3% drop in its GDP. UK saw a 9.9% drop just to list two countries. One way to jump start the economy is to have governments massively investing in the economy. As Europeans, we all learnt at school the Marshall Plan also known as the post world war II European Recovery Programme. Today, we are going to discuss about the post-COVID nuclear investments in France – “France Relance”.
France Relance
France is allocating 100 billion Euros through its “France Relance” support scheme, focussing on the following parts of the French economy:
- Environmental aspect;
- Competitivity;
- Cohesion.
In terms of industries, the scheme is focussing on specific industries:
- Aeronautics;
- Automotive;
- Agro;
- Health;
- Electronics;
- Essencial raw materials (chemistry, materials, metals);
- 5G.
Out of the 100 billion Euros, 470 million Euros are allocated to the nuclear industry, which is a positive sign as it shows the government considers our industry as a clean energy. A large chunk of “France Relance” is actually dedicated to green hydrogen, which could be linked to nuclear. This topic will be discussed in another post on our blog.
We have to maintain our capabilities to build the next generation of nuclear power plants
Bruno lemaire, french finance minister
Investments in the nuclear industry
Through “France Relance”, the government is aiming at consolidating the existing sites but also supporting the domestic players in their R&D activities and export ambitions.
Through BPI – State bank for entrepreneurship, managing the scheme -, the government wants to support the following initiative:
- Consolidating / relocating the existing nuclear industry; it can be innovation in new products, processes, investments in industrialisation or relocation;
- Modernising existing nuclear sites; through Factory 4.0, digitalisation, news equipment;
- Improving the environmental footprint of any site; most notably through circular economy.
All in all, this support scheme is aiming at improving:
- Workers’ capabilities through stronger trainings;
- Industrial investment and contractors support;
- R&D and SMR development – NUWARD project.
A strong nuclear sector is essential to run safely our nuclear power plants
Barbara Pompili, French environment minister
There’s no doubt all the French nuclear industry knows about this initiative, but briefly presenting you the post-COVID nuclear investments in France might motivate some foreign companies to partner with French players and get access to the funding through a partnership.
That’s exactly what we are trying to achieve with our newsletter: connect the right companies from different countries to bring the right solution to a technical challenge.