France is often portrayed as a nuclear energy giant, benefitting from cheap and abundant energy wihle countries like Germany, which abandoned nuclear, is facing an energy crisis. However, nuclear energy in France is under threat from a quite unexpected source, renewable energy, which is actually driving up costs for nuclear operators and leading them to run at a loss.
“The massive nuclear mess they’re hiding from you: EDF is going to get paid to run its reactors at a loss. This isn’t a joke,” Marion Maréchal opens her post on X, referring to France’s state-owned multinational electric utility company.
Le grand gâchis nucléaire qu’on vous cache : EDF va être payé pour faire tourner ses réacteurs à perte.
— Marion Maréchal (@MarionMarechal) April 20, 2026
Ce n’est pas une blague.
Pourquoi ? Parce que les énergies renouvelables sont prioritaires sur le réseau. Quand le soleil brille à midi ou que le vent souffle fort, il y a… pic.twitter.com/VPaR0v1kjW
The president of Identité Libertés — and niece of right-wing firebrand Marine Le Pen (RN) — goes on to explain that due to the priority being given to renewable energies, any surplus electricity from too much sun or wind “has to be offloaded at any cost.”
“EDF then has to throttle back its nuclear output to ‘let through’ the green electricity,” which leads to the issue of higher cost per megawatt for nuclear energy. “And above all, without enough spinning machines (nuclear turbines) synchronized to the grid, you risk a blackout à la espagnole,” she adds, referencing the unprecedented power outage that struck Spain and Portugal, cutting electricity for millions for up to 16 hours. While a variety of factors, including poor grid management and other system vulnerabilities, have been blamed for the incident, some have directly cited the inability of renewables to properly handle a voltage surge.
Now, the IDL MEP explains, France’s energy regulator “has authorized EDF to keep reactors running, even at negative prices, just to stabilize the grid. And of course… it’s you who foots the bill.”
“This is where an energy policy that sacrifices nuclear power on the altar of green ideology leads us. We subsidize wind and sun, and run nuclear at a loss to patch up their flaws. Common sense would have it the other way around: nuclear as the backbone, renewables as the supplement,” Maréchal writes.
EDF’s expansion of solar and wind generation has created supply surges during weak demand, leading to massive price swings and tricky grid management. At issue as well is the lack of investment in new nuclear power plants, with the government instead choosing to prioritize continued operation, or “running to failure,” of existing plants, which critics claim compromises safety over output.
Others have contended that the costs of new plants have ballooned and that focus should remain on more cost-effective renewables and advancing the technologies, such as for better storage.
Back in 2023, after posting a record loss due to reactor outages, EDF Chairman and CEO Luc Rémont told press: “The 2022 results were significantly affected by the decline in our electricity output, and also by exceptional regulatory measures introduced in France in difficult market conditions.”
EDF then posted net income of €10 billion in 2023, after slashing debt and boosting nuclear output. Earnings hit €11.4 billion in 2024 and then dipped to €8.4 billion on softer electricity prices, despite a six-year record nuclear output.
