Nuclear Energy - Energie EDF

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Nuclear energy SECURING ENERGY INDEPENDENCE Nuclear power accounts for 21% of all electrical power generated around the world. France opted for this form of energy in the post-war years, when the country decided to conduct research into means of developing this new energy source. France’s decision was corroborated in the nineteen-sixties, and particularly in the aftermath of 1973 and the petrol crisis, a year which saw the cost of the barrel quadruple within a mere few weeks. At the time, France was sourcing 76% of its energy supplies from other countries, and oil accounted for 84% of its imports. The decision to build a nuclear fl eet was taken with a view to securing France’s energy independence. This turned out to be a wise decision: By the late eighties, more than half of energy demand was already covered by the country’s output. EDF is now the world’s leading producer of nuclear energy. It enjoys world-wide renown as the leading light in technical know-how. Nuclear energy is now increasingly perceived as a crucial source of energy. Global energy demand continues to rise while petroleum and gas resources, and coal resources in the longer term, will be in short supply. Not to mention the need to combat global warming. Nuclear power does not generate greenhouse gases. 04 RESEARCH In 1956, The Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) started up the very fi rst French reactor at the Marcoule facility (Gard). EDF connected a power generator at the site.
Energy resources of the future By the year 2030, global energy demand is expected to have risen by 60%, while global electricity demand is expected to double within the next 30 years. In the light of these forecasts, oil resources are expected to be depleted within the next 40 years, with natural gas becoming depleted within the next 70 years, and coal within the next 200 to 300 years. Uranium resources, on the other hand, are found in abundance. They come from stable countries like Canada and Australia. Given the challenges facing energy supply, nuclear energy stands out as a sustainable and economic solution. The French nuclear fl eet in fi gures Two types of nuclear power plant have been built in France: French-designed gas-cooled nuclear reactors, and Americandesigned pressurized water reactors (PWR). In the nineteensixties, 6 gas-cooled reactor units were commissioned, while 58 PWR plants were commissioned between 1970 and 1993. The French nuclear fl eet now comprises 58 reactor units spread across 19 nuclear power stations: thirty-four 900-MW reactors, twenty 1300-MW reactors and four 1500-MW reactors. Indeed, EDF customers enjoy some of the most competitive electricity rates in Europe. France is the world’s second biggest nuclear energy power, after the United States. Reactor units. A reactor unit comprises one reactor, steam generators, a turbine and a generator, which produces electricity. DID YOU KNOW? EDF’s nuclear and hydroelectric generation facilities enable it to generate 95% of its electricity without emitting CO2. The Kyoto protocol has called for a 5.7% reduction in CO2 emissions in industrialized countries over the period spanning 1990 to 2010 (8% for European countries). 05
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Nuclear Energy - Energie EDF

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