As France siphoned off their nuclear reactors, they would have to increase the amount they use of renewable energy sources. Whereas France relies on 78.8% of their energy from nuclear, Japan only relied on nuclear for 30% of their energy. Japan was able to shut down all of their nuclear reactors after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster however, France does not have the benefits that Japan did in order to issue such a shutdown.
#RADIUM CALM RADIO OFFLINE#
This results in France being prone to a “generic risk”, where if one reactor had a problem, all reactors would have to go offline in order to fix the problem. Not only do they rely primarily on one form of energy, but they also rely on one generation of nuclear reactors. France’s dependence on nuclear power plants places it in a vulnerable position. Though promising, there are many doubts surrounding whether France has the capabilities or follow through with such a pledge. However, by November 2011, the socialist candidate François Hollande was vowing to close 20 nuclear reactors in France and to seriously limit France’s dependence on nuclear. Despite the sudden apprehension of the world towards nuclear and vast protests in many countries against nuclear and the uncertainty behind waste disposal, France stood by nuclear power firmly. But France’s President, Nicolas Sarkozy, was not influenced by his neighbors. With Germany vowing to shutdown nuclear reactors just next door, and Italy already in the process of stopping their nuclear plants, France was in a tight place – it had more to lose from a total shutdown of nuclear than any nuclear disaster. With most of its electrical power coming from nuclear, France had to calm the newfound fears of French people who now questioned the safety of their own country’s nuclear program. But France was also in a unique situation. All of Europe began checking crops for radiation, just as they did in 1986 after the Chernobyl accident. For France, the first concern was radioactive fallout and the contamination of food products. But the radioactive materials that were released into the air also caused stress all across the world. The Japanese questioned their government’s decisions in favor of nuclear after being evacuated from their homes and checked for radiation. On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant became notorious when one of its reactors exploded after an earthquake and tsunami. Influence of Fukushima-Daiichi on France:
In 1999, the French Parliament’s “three pillars” of energy policy were security of supply, respect for the environment (lowering greenhouse gas emissions), and dedication to properly managing radioactive waste. France has remained pro-nuclear ever since. Due to the “Messmer Plan”, France constructed a total of 56 new reactors between the years of 19. That year, France’s Prime Minister, Pierre Messmer, developed a plan to open 80 nuclear power plants by 1985 and 170 by 2000. France decidedly became the world’s leader in nuclear energy after the 1973 oil crisis. With 58 nuclear reactors, France has now depended on nuclear energy for many years without ever having a serious accident. France has the largest percent of nuclear in total domestic electricity generation according to the International Energy Association and exports about 44.91 billion kWh of electrical energy per year. Since then, France has become a primarily nuclear-powered country with 78.8% of its electrical energy coming from nuclear. In 1964, France’s first nuclear power plant opened. By 1946, France had established one main electricity company, Eléctricité de France, which has become the largest energy utility company in the world – using all non-fossil-fuel energy. France’s CEA had goal applications for nuclear in three fields: medicine, energy and defense. But nuclear research took on a larger role in France in 1945 when President Charles de Gaulle developed the Commissariat à l’Enérgie Atomic (CEA) and placed Frédéric Joliot-Curie at its head, reminding the French of the Curies’ advancements and the advancements that would continue to occur. Nuclear research has been inextricably tied to France since Pierre and Marie Curie’s discovery of the radioactivity of radium. Brief History of Nuclear Power in France:
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