EDF Wants Builders to Cooperate to Curb New French Reactor Costs
(Bloomberg) -- Electricite de France SA is seeking to convince France’s largest construction firms to work together on new nuclear reactors as the state-owned utility tries to contain project costs.
EDF wants Bouygues SA, Eiffage SA, Vinci SA and smaller builders to cooperate rather than compete on works, people familiar with the matter said. That would allow them to share know-how and overcome a lack of skilled workers, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
The talks are part of EDF’s effort to firm up its cost estimate for constructing six new atomic plants, the people said. The utility is under government pressure to provide by a credible budget and timetable by the end of this year. The bill for the six units, excluding financing costs, was last estimated at almost €80 billion ($92.6 billion), France’s state auditor said in a report in January.
Over the coming decades, those reactors — and potentially another eight — would replace some of the 57 plants it currently operates in France. The cost of EDF’s most recent reactor in France ballooned amid construction delays, while the budget for two units it’s building in the UK has already more than doubled, weighing on the group’s finances.
EDF needs to reassure French authorities over its ability to manage the project as it aims to make a final investment decision on the six new reactors by the end of next year, pending European Union approval for a planned state loan.
A shortage of skilled workers has been identified as one of the main hurdles for a revival of nuclear plant construction in France. Similar constraints are slowing EDF’s Hinkley Point C project in the UK, as nations across Europe consider atomic power to replace aging reactors and shift away from fossil fuels.
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Two years ago, EDF awarded a contract worth more than €4 billion to Eiffage — France’s third-largest builder — for the main civil engineering works for the first pair of reactors to be built in Penly in northern France. At its peak, this construction phase will involve about 4,000 people, according to Eiffage, which beat its bigger rivals Vinci and Bouygues for the project.
The decision was a blow to Bouygues, the primary contractor for EDF’s most recent nuclear plant in Flamanville, northwestern France. Together with two British partners, the company is also responsible for key elements at Hinkley Point and Sizewell in the UK.
Cooperation among builders in France would be more efficient, assuming they agree to share best practices, lessons learned and project leadership on case by case basis, people familiar with said.
Eiffage is working with EDF to ensure the success of the entire new build program, through sharing methods, industrial organizations and investment made for the first two new reactors, the company said in a response to Bloomberg queries. Initial works for the project in Penly, which started in mid-2024, are taking place as planned.
Representatives for EDF and Bouygues declined to comment, while a spokeswoman for Vinci said the company can’t comment until EDF comes up with detailed proposals.
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