Commodities
Banks down,
but not out
Exclusive:
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Laurent Michel
Director general, energy and climate
Richard Lavergne
Adviser to the director general,
head of operations energy climate
strategy
Pierre-Marie Abadie
Director of energy
*Ministry of energy, environment
and sustainable development
Blaise Rapior
Adviser, energy,competition and
sectors policy
Christophe Attali
High Council for Economy, Industry,
Energy and Technology
Fabrice Dambrine
Head of innovation, competition
and modernisation, High Council
for Economy, Industry, Energy and
Technology
*Ministry of economy and finance
Laurent Michel
Member of the board (French
government commissioner)
Didier Holleaux
CEO, E&P international
Bruno Bensasson
Member of the board
Isabelle Kocher
Executive vice-president, chief
financial officer
Raphael Schoentgen
President of GDF Suez, China
And there are those within the high echelons of the state who a ppear
to have decided that it is now acceptable to have a debate about nuclear
power. Nuclear energy must be the object of a debate in civil society,
says Francis-Rol Tanguy, who is currently energy advisEr to French
energy minister Segolene Royal, and member of rival elite Corps, the
Corps des Ponts et Chaussees.
There is no shame in that but all those who built nuclear power in
France, and its true that is a fairly extraordinary adventure, have a little
difficulty in accepting this change because up until now it was a subject
that was decided, well, elsewhere by an ensemble of technocrats, the
state, the milieu of research, the CEA (Commission of Atomic Energy),
there was a kind of delegation on this subject, he adds.
Indeed, Frances so-called energy transition debate, launched by
the Hollande presidency last year, is the first time in French history
that there has been a broad consultation on energy policy. In the past,
it was always top down, non-transparent, says Fabien Roques, senior
vice president at Compass Elexon, a consultancy firm.
If the doors of the elite are now opening to debate, this is because
technocrats are aware of the rising costs of generating nuclear power
and the possibilities of cheaper alternatives, experts argue. The meltdown at Japans Fukushima nuclear plant in March 2011 raised the
safety bar for French reactors and this combined with the costs of
keeping ageing reactors in service means the French administration
is conscious that nuclear will soon be very, horribly expensive, says
Gossement.
Indeed, some elements of the Corps des Mines are beginning
to see that offshore wind and large-scale solar are cheaper than new
Luc Oursel
CEO
Philippe Knoche
COO, member of the board
Alain Bucaille
Adviser to the chairman, future of
energy and strategy
Thierry Desmarest
Honourary chairman, member
of strategy and governance
committees
Patrick Pouyann
President, refining & chemicals,
member of the executive committee
Bertrand Collomb
Member of the board
25
GDF Suez
AREVA
Total
EDF
PARI
French Presidential Palace
MINEF
Ministry of Economy
and Finance
MEDDE
ASN
IRSN
the elites, says Evrard. Once again the administration took back the
decisions from the people that participated in the d
ebates, he says. As
far as implementation of the core aspects of energy policy is concerned,
the administration decides and does so outside the debate.
And the technocrats still wield power with no change in
the administrations centralised way of thinking about energy
production, say critics of the system. This policy is still technocracy
led. The way of thinking that this is too complicated for people
has not changed, and the main actors are the same and the economic
context is even more difficult, adds Evrard.
IS
CEA
Nuclear Energy
Directorate
27
Dominique Maillard
CEO
Claire Niclot
Director, innovation and RTE and
EDF
Vincent Thouvenin
Executive director of SENP (power
system unit)
Daniel Bouche
Director of research
Jean Cazalet
Deputy director for development
and nuclear innovation, nuclear
Energy department
Eric Goubault
Research director
*Nuclear energy directorate
Pierre-Franck Chevet
President
Jean-Jacques Dumont
Commissioner
Sophie Mourlon
Deputy director general
Thomas Houdre
Director, nuclear power plants
*Nuclear safety authority
Patricia de Suzzoni
Adviser to the chairman
*Energy regulator
This has to be done gradually over time, otherwise it will cost far too
much, but, according to Le Biez, there is no urgency to address this
issue now. He also bats away the idea economic constraints and n
uclear
accidents are provoking a rethink of power policy in F
rance. There was
a doubt among Corps des Mines engineers after Fukushima but this
has lifted because of the situation in Germany where the exit from
nuclear power use has left the countrys c ommercial balance in great
difficulty, according to Le Biez.
We must be very careful about altering Frances energy policy. I
think this is a majority view among engineers in the administration.
France has put so much into nuclear that it would be a very heavy
economic choice.
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