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The French Head of State did not disclose the location of the future reactor in his speech, nor its scheduled commissioning date, but added: "The location will have to be decided between now and 2009, and the first stone must be laid in 2011."

"The era of cheap oil is over. More than ever, nuclear power is an industry of the future and an indispensable energy source," said Sarkozy. "Each EPR saves 2 billion cubic metres of gas a year when it replaces a gas-fired plant and 11 million tonnes of CO2 a year when it replaces a coal-fired plant," he argued. "The electricity leaving an EPR is between 30 and 50% less expensive than electricity leaving a gas- or coal-fired plant. We can become an electricity exporter although we have neither oil nor gas. It’s a historic development opportunity," the President explained.

He also stressed "France’s good fortune in that (General) de Gaulle anticipated nuclear power" which supplies 80% of electricity in France today.

Nicolas Sarkozy also recalled that France offers its cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy to all developing countries, considering that "nuclear power can be a weapon for peace, because it is a weapon in the service of development."

EPR: a third-generation reactor based on French and German technology

The third-generation EPR nuclear reactor, which is currently under construction in Finland and France, was developed by the French nuclear group Areva and the Germany company Siemens.

The EPR project, launched in 1992, was developed using French and Germany technology through Areva’s subsidiary Areva NP, which is owned 34% by Siemens.

Designed from its inception for a minimum service life of 60 years, with 1,600 megawatts (MW), the EPR (European Pressurised Water Reactor) is more powerful than the reactors built in the 1980s and uses the tried and tested technique of light-water reactors, which is the most widespread throughout the world.

According to its designers it allows better use of fuel, requires fewer safety systems and produces smaller amounts of waste, which is challenged by antinuclear organisations who see it as an already obsolete technology.

Finland is due to commission the first EPR in 2011. In France, where nearly 80% of electricity is produced using nuclear power, construction of the world’s second EPR began last December in Flamanville, Manche, and is scheduled for commissioning in 2012.

Once it is operational, the Flamanville EPR could ultimately take over from a good proportion of the country’s 58 reactors (thirty-four 900-MW reactors, twenty 1,300-MW and four 1,450-MW) most of which were commissioned during the 1980s.