Strikes in France put energy supplies, including nuclear, at risk
Strikes over the French government's controversial pension reform plan have entered their 16th day and are weighing on the electricity sector, refineries, LNG terminals and are even disrupting maintenance of nuclear reactors.
The ongoing protests are in response to President Emmanuel Macron's proposed changes to the pension system, including raising the retirement age by two years to 64. Macron intends to pass the pension reform and focus on other measures.
The operator Fluxys (FLUX.BR) declared force majeure at its Dunkirk LNG terminal in northern France on Thursday following a strike that disrupted operations. According to an online bulletin, the outages are expected to last into the early hours of Friday, reducing the terminal's delivery capacity by 70 gigawatt hours per day.
A union source revealed that a general meeting is scheduled for Friday at noon to determine whether the strike will be extended.
Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher stressed that the strike is a constitutional right, but not the blockade of infrastructure.
The Gonfreville site, TotalEnergies' largest refinery in France, has also prepared a requisition order, although it has not yet been formally issued. The refinery was shut down on Tuesday due to the strike, with storage tanks nearing capacity.
Despite government warnings, unions pledged to continue their protests.
“We have no choice but to go on strike and freeze the economy until (Macron) gives up and withdraws his project,” said Fabrice Criquet, secretary general of the FO-ADP union.
On Thursday morning, 37% of TotalEnergies' operational staff participated in the strike, disrupting several refineries and depots.
An official of the CGT union also said that maintenance was stopped at eleven nuclear reactors, including the Penly 1 reactor, where new corrosion cracks were discovered earlier this month. Maintenance outages lasted 11 days and electricity availability in France was reduced by 21 gigawatts (GW) across nuclear, thermal and hydroelectric plants.
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The article Strikes in France put energy supplies at risk, including nuclear energy, comes from Scenari Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/gli-scioperi-in-francia-mettono-a-rischio-le-forniture-energetiche-nucleare-compreso/ on Fri, 24 Mar 2023 07:00:38 +0000.