France: Strike ends early at reactors and fuel depots

Strikes scheduled to last 48 hours at France’s nuclear reactors and fuel refineries ended after a day, the hardline CGT union told Reuters on Friday. France was seen as a net exporter of electricity during the day until early evening on Friday, data from network operator RTE showed, after being a net importer in the early hours of the morning. More strikes against the government’s pension reform plans to retire the Frenchman two years later at the age of 64 are scheduled in the energy sector and elsewhere on Tuesday amid a national day of protests. At the nuclear reactors, the strike ended early because grid operator RTE requested that nuclear supplies be returned to the grid due to the cold weather, said a spokeswoman for the energy branch of the FNME-CGT union. Although not a legal obligation, unions tend to comply with such requests. Furthermore, after a deal reached with operator EDF in October, workers have “a lot of expectations in salary negotiations” and this has helped to bring them back to work, FNME-CGT spokeswoman Virginie Neumayer told Reuters. The strike, which started yesterday (26), had only a marginal effect on nuclear power supplies throughout the day and night compared to around 10% of the total supply taken off the grid on January 19, EDF data showed. *Reproduction of this content is prohibited

Agência Brasil