French President Advances Closure of Oldest Plants

President François Hollande has announced the closure of the two oldest of the 54 French nuclear power plants by 2016, previously planned for 2017 and confirmed the goal to drastically reduce the share of nuclear power from 78% in 2011 to 50% in 2025. However, no long term closure schedule has been presented yet. The president, who spoke at the opening event of the national Environmental Conference on 14 September 2015 in Paris, also announced ambitious targets for energy efficiency and renewable energies. An national energy debate, whose framework conditions are to be defined during the two day Environmental Conference, should lead to the presentation of a draft energy bill to parliament by the end of the first semester 2012.