This is a mission letter, summarized this Saturday by Matignon.
In a letter dated December 9 and reported by Les Échos on Friday, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne asked the new CEO of EDF Luc Rémont to restore the nuclear device to working order, as well as to better control the projects in progress. and straighten out its finances.
The head of government thus sets three priorities for the leader, asking him first of all to restore EDF production in France "to a level consistent with the capacities of its industrial tool and the best international comparables", while 14 nuclear reactors out of 56 are still at a standstill.
Elisabeth Borne asks the national electrician, in the process of 100% renationalisation, to “control the deadlines and budgets of the nuclear projects in progress”.
Six months to respond
His letter was written a few days before EDF announced a new delay of six months and an additional cost of 500 million euros for the new generation EPR reactor in Flamanville (Manche) whose commissioning is now scheduled for here in mid-2024.
Luc Rémont must at the same time “straighten the financial trajectory of the company”, very indebted, but also meet “the expectations of consumers in the context of rising energy prices”.
"The objectives set for the company by the government are part of a particular context" because EDF "must face major operational difficulties in the French nuclear fleet and respond to the government's desire to relaunch one of the most ambitious in the world," Matignon told AFP.
"At the same time, the company must respond to the challenges of ecological planning," added those around the Prime Minister.
Luc Rémont has six months to respond: he will have to propose "a new strategic, operational and financial roadmap for the future of EDF, in the first half of 2023".
Elisabeth Borne also mentions in her letter a “targeted development” of EDF for export.