The head of France’s nuclear power giant will step down as nationalization looms.
Jean-Bernard Levi, chairman and chief executive officer of French state power giant France, will resign before his term expires next year. The company said On thursday.
The French government announced yesterday that it will re-nationalize EDF to solve the problems that plague nuclear power programs and protect consumers from rising energy prices, as the company is known.French Treasury Confirmed Levi’s departure as soon as a successor is appointed.
The state currently owns 84 percent of EDF’s capital.French Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne told parliamentarians Wednesday To ensure France’s energy self-sufficiency, it had to buy 100% of the company.
EDF is France’s leading electricity producer, operating all nuclear power plants that generate about 70% of the country’s electricity and has the largest share of any other country in the world. However, many nuclear reactors (mainly built in the 1980s) have been idle for repairs, causing nuclear power output to drop to its lowest level in 30 years. This is the result of a lack of investment in a € 43 billion company. In debt.
As Russia restricted supply and the European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow in response to the war in Ukraine, the price of natural gas used by France to compensate for fluctuations in nuclear energy has skyrocketed. Forced to buy large amounts of electricity in the open market, Levi appealed to the government and received a € 2 billion lifeline in February.
That is not enough to solve the EDF problem, and the government will “strengthen its ability to carry out ambitious projects that are essential to the future of energy as quickly as possible” by taking full control of the company. I concluded that I can do it. Said.
