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Nuclear power, tax-payer subsidised, and not popular in France

European Expert: U.S. Policymakers Are ‘As Wrong As They Can Be’ About The French Experience With Nuclear Power Marignac Says

REUTERS WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-

Nuclear power in France is not popular. The pursuit of the nuclear program in France is a permanently undemocratic choice. Contrary to the image presented in the United States, the French population is no more in favor of nuclear power than the European average – indeed a majority is opposed to the building of new plants. Surveys repeatedly show that the public lacks confidence in the institutional promoters of nuclear power.

– The “nationalized” nuclear model in France is completely incompatible with the market-driven U.S. In 2001, Compagnie Generale des Matieres Nucleaires (Cogema – General Company for Nuclear Materials), a private company established in 1976, merged with Framatome, the nuclear reactor builder, to create the Areva group. Currently, 96 percent of the share capital of the Areva group is held by the French state and large French industries. Electricite de France (EDF), the French electric utility, was established in 1946 through nationalization of a number of state and private companies. First and foremost responsible for overseeing development of the electricity supply across France, today EDF operates all 59 nuclear reactors in service in France.

EDF was partly privatized in 2005-2006, but the French government still retains control 84.9 percent of its shares. — State ownership of French nuclear power means that the true costs are hidden. Though largely in an indirect fashion, French taxpayers bear a large part of the nuclear costs.

The French government, as both the regulator of electricity prices and the owner of the utility EDF, has been able to overcome the main obstacle to nuclear power by planning, at liberty, the return of capital costs from nuclear investments. French public funding is widely provided to the nuclear industry, from financing extensive R&D programs to guaranteeing low-rate loans.

Official cost estimates for nuclear power tend to neglect or downplay hidden costs from the fuel cycle, waste management, decommissioning of nuclear facilities, security, infrastructural changes and state guarantees for liabilities. All in all, nuclear power is highly subsidized by the French taxpayer.

European Expert: U.S. Policymakers Are ‘As Wrong As They Can Be’ About The French… | Reuters

September 16, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin