The French government published a decree for closing the country’s oldest nuclear plant.
The decree, sets down the conditions for closing a nuclear plant at Fessenheim, near the border with Germany.
Fessenheim will cease operations when a new reactor, currently being built at Flamanville on the Normandy coast enters service.
France’s nuclear plant operator EDF informed that the Flamanville reactor — a project that has run into deep problems — will begin operations in 2019.
The closure of the twin-reactor plant at Fessenheim is part of a plan to slash France’s dependence on atomic energy.
Fessenheim, in operation since 1977, is located on a seismic fault line about 100 kilometres south of Strasbourg.
The new European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) reactor, being built at Flamanville alongside two existing reactors, is a novel third-generation design touted as the world’s biggest and advanced nuclear reactor.
