Japan, Switzerland, Italy and now Germany have called into question their nuclear power programs. Despite similarities in the industrial organisation of the French and Japanese nuclear industries, real debate has barely begun to appear in France. How long will close ties between the French government and its untouchable industrial champions–EDF, AREVA–be able to stave off serious discussion? Can questions about the risks and costs of nuclear energy be stopped, like the Chernobyl cloud, at the borders of France? Nuclear power has long been seen as a source of pride in France, an indicator that, whatever else happens, it is still a contender. Yet, even as Anne Lauvergeon, the head of Areva, dismisses Germany’s decision as “pure politics”, change may be a-coming.
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