French national energy grid operator Electricite de France (EDF) has extended maintenance halts on several nuclear reactors, greatly increasing the risk that the country will run short of electricity this winter.

According to reports, the utility has pushed back the restart of the Penly-2 unit from January 29th to June 11th, and the Golfetch-1 unit has seen its reopening delayed from February 18th to June 11th.

The Chattenom-3 reactor has had its reopening delayed one month until March 26th, while the restart of Civaux-2 has been postponed over a month until February 19th.

Another new nuclear reactor in Western France has seen its startup delayed several months into 2024, as construction work was extended, according to EDF. The project is already more than a decade behind schedule.

Roughly 70% of French electricity normally flows from 56 nuclear reactors, however presently over 20 of those reactors are shut down, which has severely restricted electricity production.

EDF has warned that as regular maintenance tasks and repairs on almost half of the nation’s nuclear reactors have stretched out and taken longer than projected, France is increasingly running the risk of transitioning from a net electricity exporter to an electricity importer. The utility has also warned there is a chance that the nation will have a shortage of electricity occur during the colder months, as demand rises, while reactors are still offline being maintained or repaired.

This will exacerbate the fears of the neighboring nations which have come to rely on importing electricity from France to supply their own citizens. France is the largest producer of nuclear energy in Europe.