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the_why_of_y 3 hours ago

Spending 19 billion € over 18 years to build 1.65GW Flamanville 3 is not quite obvious to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPR_(nuclear_reactor)#Flamanvi...

Edit: compare this with China: they added 315 GW of Solar capacity in a single year (2025; see page 34 of the PDF).

https://www.irena.org/Publications/2026/Mar/Renewable-capaci...

(You can't compare nameplate capacity directly, but it can be safely assumed that 2 orders of magnitude more is ... actually more)

leonidasrup 2 hours ago | parent [-]

French nuclear supply chain atrophied quite lot in the last 30 years. Don't forget that even in France, president Hollande promised in 2014 to the voters to slash nuclear's contribution of power generation by 2025.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/renewables-up-nuclear-down-in-fren...

It was only when Russia started invasion in 2022, that the politicians in France started to change their opinion.

If you want build a nuclear power plant you go to nuclear supplier with uninterrupted experience in building nuclear power plants, like South Korea, China or Russia.

The South Koreans build Barakah nuclear power plant 5600 MWe for $32bn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barakah_nuclear_power_plant

https://www.powermag.com/uaes-first-reactor-gets-go-ahead/

otherme123 42 minutes ago | parent [-]

> French nuclear supply chain atrophied quite lot in the last 30 years.

Because today it makes no economic sense. Supply chain for horse carts is also very atrophied.

>The South Koreans build Barakah nuclear power plant 5600 MWe for $32bn.

Still very expensive. Flamanville is an extreme when things go really bad, but 175 MWe for 1 bn is also very high. 1 bn buys ~1 GW of solar, ~1 GW of onshore wind, or ~3 GW of battery capacity. You should only build new nuclear either to get a better mix in the grid (up to 5% is the nuclear lobby recommendation), or because you have no sun and no wind.

BenoitP 22 minutes ago | parent [-]

France exports about 60TWh of electricity yearly for about 4B€.

Flamanville running at 100% generates 32TWh. It is amortized in 9 years. I'd say it's doing pretty okay even with its ballooning cost.