The UAE's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna and India's Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar agreed to establish a formal trilateral cooperation initiative last September

Nuclear currently accounts for almost 75% of France's power production, but former president Francois Hollande's government announced in 2014 that this would be capped at the current level of 63.2 GWe and would be limited to 50% of total output by 2025.

However, in March last year the Belgian government decided to start talks with Electrabel - the Belgian subsidiary of Engie - with a view to extending the operation of Doel 4 and Tihange 3, allowing for the retention of 2 GWe of nuclear generation capacity.

The plant in the northeastern town of Saint-Avold indeed halted coal production as scheduled earlier this year — but not for long. This week, its workers were back at the controls, transporting coal from storage heaps and refiring furnaces, as part of emergency efforts to keep the heat and electricity on this winter.

France plans to build 6 new next-generation EPRs (European Pressured Reactors II) and to launch studies for the construction of 8 additional EPRs as well as SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) to have 25 GW of new nuclear capacity by 2050.

During the consultation the government is seeking opinions and recommendations on three major issues: how energy consumption can be adapted in order for France to reach climate neutral by 2050; how energy demand can be met whilst reducing dependency on fossil fuels; and how to plan, implement and finance the energy transition.

To take the group private, the French government will spend €9.7bn, including transaction costs.

Energy company EDF intends to build the reactors at three existing NPP sites: two in Penly, in the Seine-Maritime administrative department, two in Gravelines, in northern France, and two either in Bugey, in eastern France, or in Tricastin, in the south of France.

The first project, with a capacity of 1 GW, may be supplemented later by a second plant of 1 GW, which could have either fixed foundations or floating wind turbines anchored to the ocean floor.

The European Commission has approved a €5bn French scheme to support energy-intensive companies that have been particularly hit by the recent increase in energy prices.