France to shut down its oldest nuclear complex by June end

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe today said that the Fessenheim nuclear reactor, on the border with Germany, will be shut down at the end of June, with one of its reactors to be closed this weekend. It is the country’s oldest nuclear complex.

A statement called the decision the first phase of France’s energy strategy set out in 2018 by President Emmanuel Macron. The plan calls for a re-balancing of nuclear-produced energy and electricity derived from renewable sources.

The statement said, coal plants will be closed by 2022 to reduce greenhouse gases. It said, Reactor No 1 will be halted on Saturday and the entire complex will come to a halt on 30th June.

Germany has long called for the plant to be shut down. It is the first nuclear complex to be closed under President Macron’s plan.