In 2021, the Grohnde nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony on the Weser River was shut down. Now, immediately next to it, the Emmerthal energy cluster is growing with three very large battery storage systems, ground-mounted photovoltaic systems, and a new substation for several 380-kilovolt high-voltage lines.
So how do you explain France having such cheap electricity, mostly through nuclear power plants? https://www.sfeninenglish.org/nuclear-electricity-price-gap-france-germany-2026/ The issue is not the technology, it’s the implementation. Just like in the US, Germany overegulated the industry, causing prices to increase. France can do it safely and cheaply. What’s the excuse? I don’t get it.
The French highly subsidize their nuclear power. It is not cheap at all and according to the French president, it only makes sense because they are a vital component of their nuclear arms industry.
Thank you for responding.
Can you provide a source for both of those claims? What I’m seeing is that it’s profitable on its own, and generation isnt behind subsidized.
The construction is state funded, and the majority state owned operator has high debts because it isn’t actually profitable on its own, and those debts are ultimatly underwritten by the state so another form of subsidy.
And that doesn’t even account for insurance costs which because it is owned by the French state are not done at all or not realistically priced. And decomissioning costs and nuclear waste disposal costs are also not priced in.
The French state pays a lot to keep up the false public opinion that everyone benefits from the cheap nuclear power, when in reality it is a heavy burden on their state budget and only done for national security reasons (and sunk cost fallacies).