Blackout fears soar as France’s nuclear issues pose energy shortage threat for UK

But it comes after Paris was forced to shut down many French reactors, amidst reports that warned Mr Macron of significant corrosion safety problems in EDF nuclear power plants. 

Two reactors, Penly 2 in Seine-Maritime and Cattenom 3 in Moselle, had already shut down for inspections. While they were set to be over the next few weeks, these flaws meant that the sites would remain shut down for at least until next year.

According to franceinfo, these are among the most powerful reactors in France’s nuclear fleet, generating 1,330 and 1,300 MW of electricity.

Dr Paul Dorfman, an associate Fellow at SPRU University of Sussex, told Express.co.uk: “There’s a real mess across the channel. 

“Right now, 28 French EDF reactors are offline due to corrosion safety problems. EDF is essentially bankrupt due to €43billon (£37.7billion) debts, facing up to a €100billion (£97.6billion) bill for French reactor life-extensions, all of which has forced Macron to fully nationalise EDF, to the detriment of the French economy.”

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1694273/france-nuclear-energy-blackouts-uk-shortage-edf