For those here singing the praises of French energy policy with 70% of their electricity being nuclear, and who believe that nuclear power is the only way out of our energy crisis take a look at this extract from the 'Old Sparky' column in Private Eye 1573.
................................................................................. Corrosive power
Several continental readers have questioned our story (Eye 1571) that French electricity prices are the highest in Europe: they rightly point out that subsidies reduce the price French householders pay.
The report, though, was referring to wholesale prices in France which were, and remain, the highest. And there's no end in sight because the root cause, systemic corrosion in the largest French nuclear power stations, has now been identified in some of the medium-sized ones as well.
Twenty-six of France's 56 reactors are now hors de combat, at the worst possible time. If, when the smaller plants are inspected, the corrosion turns out to be endemic, France will have an electricity problem on the same scale as Germany has a Russian gas problem. Record imports are now being bought from the UK and elsewhere. France, unlike most of Europe, relies heavily on electricity for heating as well as light and power. To keep the lights and heaters on, it will be forced to keep some of the nukes in a less-than-safe mode, because there isn't sufficient electricity in Europe to make up for a 100 percent French nuclear shortfall. Kow-towing to Putin won't help them with this one.
'Old Sparky'