Alex Chalmers on how France built 40 nuclear reactors in a decade - the fastest nuclear buildout in history. Key: decisions sat in executive agencies indifferent to lobbying or public opinion.
“Everyone asks 'why can't we build nuclear fast anymore?' France already answered that question in the 1970s. The institutional design mattered more than the technology. This is a blueprint.”
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The key insight is that France's nuclear success wasn't about political will in the abstract - it was about specific institutional design that insulated technical decisions from political interference. You can't just 'want' nuclear, you need the right institutions.
France built 40 reactors in 10 years. The UK has been trying to build Hinkley Point C for over a decade and it's still not done. Same technology, different institutions, wildly different outcomes.