In 2016 EDF planned to build two New Model EPR reactors in France by 2030 to prepare for renewing its fleet of older reactors. However following financial difficulties at Areva, and its merger with EDF, French Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot said in January 2018 "for now a New Model EPR is neither a priority or a plan. Right now the priority is to develop renewable energy and to reduce the share of nuclear." The industry-government plan for 2019–2022 included work on "a new version of the EPR".