Decree No. 2026-807 “granting environmental authorisation for the work needed to set up a pair of EPR2 nuclear production units in the towns of Gravelines, Craywick, Loon Plage, and Bourbourg”, was published in the French National Record on 22 August. The decree is dated 20 August.
In February 2022, President Emmanuel Macron announced that the time was right for a nuclear renaissance in France, extending the operation of existing nuclear reactors and unveiling a proposed programme for six new EPR2 reactors, with an option for a further eight EPR2 reactors to follow.
The EPR2 is an updated version of the EPR pressurised water reactor design, being developed by EDF and Framatome. Its aim is to incorporate design, construction and commissioning experience feedback from the EPR reactor, as well as operating experience from the nuclear reactors currently in service.
The first six EPR2 reactors are to be built at Penly, Gravelines and Bugey, all of which are already home to operating nuclear power plants, with construction pencilled in to start in 2027. Each of the three sites will house a pair of EPR2 reactors, starting with Penly, where preparatory works began in 2024. Penly will serve as a pilot and provide a reference for subsequent projects. The cost was originally estimated at EUR51.7 billion (USD56.4 billion), but this was revised to EUR67.4 billion in 2023.
The authorisation for work at Gravelines, which is in the Nord department in northern France, includes the servicing of platforms and creation of site facilities; relocation of the existing power plant’s railway terminal; development of site accesses and creation of a car park (and related facilities) in the municipalities of Craywick and Bourbourg; the creation of a new Public Information Centre; earthworks and creation of a watertight enclosure beneath the footprint of a future factory block; soil reinforcement and initial civil engineering works; and creation of the intake channel. Relocation of fauna and flora to be protected – to be carried out at “favourable times” – is also authorised.
