Paul M. Eldridge wrote:
....
Thanks. I agree with much of what you say but I would caution that
France's near total dependency upon nuclear power places that country
at enormous risk should a common fault emerge with their reactor
design. Ontario's experience with its CANDU reactors has been a
decidedly mixed bag and I'm trying hard to be kind here. As someone
who in a previous (half-)live worked in the regulatory field, I've
witnessed enough to convince me that nuclear does not always live up
to its promise.

What common fault would you expect to emerge after 30-40 years (roughly)
operational experience that hasn't come to light hitherfore?

EDF is certainly one of (if not the) most competent nuclear utilities in
the world and certainly has not stood still in their designs and
operations since their initial reactors.

While there are and have been issues in nuclear generation, it would be
hard to find any similarly large-scale industrial endeavor w/ better (or
even equivalent) overall success.

CANDU is such a different beastie as to make its comparison to other
reactor types a completely useless comparison; hence I don't think it
has any bearing on judging France's position.

(As someone who in a previous (half-)live worked in the field.)

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