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Why is France rarely mentioned in these discussions? Most of their energy is nuclear. They've also standardized on plant design, which must have huge benefits

Why is France rarely mentioned in these discussions? Most of their energy is nuclear. They've also standardized on plant design, which must have huge benefits - fungible employees and more MTBF being big ones. All of our (the United States) plants afaik are bespoke designs, and can't be cheaper than pumping out cookie cutters. What are they doing right, and how do we copy it?

lispm 12y ago
> Most of their energy is nuclear Sure not. Last I looked their cars all use gasoline...
- hueving 12y ago
  Sometimes people get confused when they meant to say electricity instead of energy. Rather than correcting it, they get embarrassed and downvote. It really is a huge difference that needs to be acknowledged with people switch to electric forms of transportation.
  - brandonmenc 12y ago
    I don't have downvoting permissions.
einrealist 12y ago
What they do right? They dump toxic waste from the rod processing into the sea. They pollute entire regions from mining operations (Niger, Canada). They operate plants at limits (age, cooling, costs) - not a week without an incident.
cygx 12y ago
Keep in mind that not everything is golden in the promised land of nuclear energy production that is France: If it gets too hot to use river water for cooling, they have to shut down their nuclear reactors and import electricity from their european neighbours. For that matter, they also have problems when it gets too cold: The French generally use electricity for heating and they cannot meet demand on their own.
- h1fra 12y ago
  That sentences is only half true. Yes they river water for cooling, but water is not polluted as it's not in direct contact. French use mostly electricity for heating, but we are importing only for some occasion when temperature are very cold which append maybe 10-20 times a year. The rest of the year we are heavily exporting to england & italy. You can see all this in realtime here http://www.rte-france.com/fr/developpement-durable/eco2mix/production-d-electricite-par-filiere http://www.rte-france.com/fr/developpement-durable/eco2mix/p... And number are self explanatory, 1/4 is exported at the time I write this.
  - cygx 12y ago
    > Yes they river water for cooling, but water is not polluted as it's not in direct contact. Which I never claimed. I don't know why you mentioned that. > we are importing only for some occasion when temperature are very cold which append maybe 10-20 times a year There was a spike in 2009, where France was a net importer for 57 days - basically, French nuclear plants could not satisfy demand for 2 months. I stand by my points.

lispm 12y ago

> Most of their energy is nuclear Sure not. Last I looked their cars all use gasoline...

hueving 12y ago
Sometimes people get confused when they meant to say electricity instead of energy. Rather than correcting it, they get embarrassed and downvote. It really is a huge difference that needs to be acknowledged with people switch to electric forms of transportation.
- brandonmenc 12y ago
  I don't have downvoting permissions.

einrealist 12y ago

What they do right? They dump toxic waste from the rod processing into the sea. They pollute entire regions from mining operations (Niger, Canada). They operate plants at limits (age, cooling, costs) - not a week without an incident.

cygx 12y ago

Keep in mind that not everything is golden in the promised land of nuclear energy production that is France: If it gets too hot to use river water for cooling, they have to shut down their nuclear reactors and import electricity from their european neighbours. For that matter, they also have problems when it gets too cold: The French generally use electricity for heating and they cannot meet demand on their own.

h1fra 12y ago
That sentences is only half true. Yes they river water for cooling, but water is not polluted as it's not in direct contact. French use mostly electricity for heating, but we are importing only for some occasion when temperature are very cold which append maybe 10-20 times a year. The rest of the year we are heavily exporting to england & italy. You can see all this in realtime here http://www.rte-france.com/fr/developpement-durable/eco2mix/production-d-electricite-par-filiere http://www.rte-france.com/fr/developpement-durable/eco2mix/p... And number are self explanatory, 1/4 is exported at the time I write this.
- cygx 12y ago
  > Yes they river water for cooling, but water is not polluted as it's not in direct contact. Which I never claimed. I don't know why you mentioned that. > we are importing only for some occasion when temperature are very cold which append maybe 10-20 times a year There was a spike in 2009, where France was a net importer for 57 days - basically, French nuclear plants could not satisfy demand for 2 months. I stand by my points.