"Today, we have 30 out of the 56 nuclear reactors operating. There will be 40 in the coming weeks. Our goal is to have 45 operating units in January," Macron told the France 2 national broadcaster.
France has a total of 56 power units with a total capacity of 64.4-gigawatt hours.
On August 25, French state-run energy company EDF postponed the launch of four out of 12 nuclear reactors that had been shut down for maintenance over corrosion in May. The energy company stated that, at the time, 32 out of 56 nuclear reactors in France remained shut down. Earlier in September, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that the government expected the state-owned energy company EDF to meet the deadlines for the repair of nuclear reactors.
EDF, the company operating power units, has said that it will restart all shutdown reactors before winter to avoid energy shortages in the country amid soaring energy prices.
Since 2021, energy prices in Europe have been growing as part of a global trend of post-COVID recovery. After the beginning of Russia's military operation in Ukraine and the adoption of several packages of sanctions against Moscow by the West, fuel prices have accelerated the growth, pushing many European governments to resort to contingency measures.