Energy, Fabien Roussel
Existing nuclear fleet: Extend the 56 reactors to 60, even 70 years
Direction of change: unchanged, compared with current law.
The lever. Future of reactors in service: extension of their lifetime, closures, or gradual phase-out of nuclear power. Direction rule: ↑ longer lifetime, reopenings; ↓: closures, phase-out.
« Nous disons aussi que le doublement de la production électrique passera par une prolongation des 56 réacteurs existants. C'est ce que nous, nous pensons, prévus pour une durée de 40 ans et nous jugeons qu'ils devraient pouvoir être prolongés jusqu'à 60, voire 70 ans pour certains d'entre eux. »1Translation by the editorsWe also say that doubling electricity production will require extending the 56 existing reactors. That is what we think: they were designed for a lifetime of 40 years and we consider that they should be able to be extended to 60, even 70 years for some of them.
Words of Fabien Roussel, pcf.fr, discours « Énergie nucléaire : une filière durable pour le XXIe siècle », 24 June 2025. Position taken from public statements, not from a written programme.
No programme released. Positions taken from public statements, words of associates or documents of the candidate’s party, each dated and sourced; last recorded on 18 October 2026.
Encoding
No cost-schedule parameter for this position: see the costing for the reason.
Costing
Announced by the candidate
not announced
The cited source does not cost this measure.
Published costings
none
No external costing of this position recorded to date.
Our calculation
lever that cannot be costed
Lever with no coefficient in the cost schedule: the position is compared, not costed.
Current law, sources and limits of the cost schedule
Current law. Multiannual energy programme (PPE3, decree of February 2026): continued operation of existing reactors up to sixty years, or even beyond, under the supervision of the Autorité de sûreté nucléaire et de radioprotection (nuclear safety and radiation protection authority); no reactor closure scheduled.
Horizon. Not applicable for now.
Limits. Not costed at this stage. A nuclear phase-out or an extension beyond sixty years mainly involves investment costs (grand carénage refurbishment programme, decommissioning, replacement capacity) and effects on the electricity price, borne largely by EDF and not by the State budget; no comparable public costing is cited.
- Maire-info, « La programmation pluriannuelle de l'énergie enfin publiée », 13 février 2026, 2026-02-13: « « Côté nucléaire, la PPE confirme la poursuite de l'exploitation des réacteurs existants jusqu'à soixante années, voire au-delà » »
How to read these amounts. These are static costs and revenues, with no feedback effect, over a full year: nothing on growth, employment or the revenue that economic activity would gain or lose. A higher net cost does not on its own make a worse policy, nor net savings a better one: each programme rests on an economic model (demand-led stimulus, lower compulsory levies, consolidation of the public accounts…) that the cost schedule does not settle. GDP itself measures a volume of activity, not well-being or the usefulness of what is produced. Economic models and feedback effects.
- pcf.fr, discours « Énergie nucléaire : une filière durable pour le XXIe siècle », 24 June 2025. Words of Fabien Roussel. Position taken from public statements, not from a written programme. Read the source (pcf.fr, discours « Énergie nucléaire : une filière durable pour le XXIe siècle »).
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