Efforts to revive industry likely to meet with several challenges

France, which already produces up to 70 per cent of its electricity supply using nuclear power, has ambitions to ramp up its nuclear capacity amid a global green push.

- Cheryl Tan

But its nuclear industry has seen better days and its revival efforts will likely face several curveballs. The challenges include ageing facilities in need of upgrading, a shrinking nuclear workforce, and the lack of consistent private sector investment in research and development, observers told The Straits Times.

The country has 56 operational reactors.

In 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to build 14 new reactors by 2050 to meet the country's growing energy needs, and extend the lifespan of some of its existing reactors.

Currently, the average age of its reactors is 37 years old, and the country is hoping to extend this to at least 60 years.

France has also committed to investing €1 billion (S$1.42 billion) in nuclear power by the end of this decade, particularly towards innovative small-scale reactors helmed by start-ups, according to media reports.

Funding will also go into recruiting and training some 100,000 workers in the nuclear sector, and improving nuclear waste management.

Countries around the world are now seeing a nuclear renaissance as they face pressure to decarbonise their economies and get the world to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Advocates of the contentious power source say that nuclear power's availability and predictability have proven its importance amid soaring gas prices, whereas renewable energy is intermittent and can be difficult to store.

Even with increased investments and greater political will, some are sceptical of France's ability to facilitate a nuclear roll-out at such a scale, given that the country has not built new reactors since 1999.

This has resulted in a shrinking nuclear workforce, with many leaving the industry as political support for nuclear power wavered over the years.