NUCLEAR POWER AND THE “ENERGY TRANSITION”: A TECHNOPOLITICAL HISTORY

Abstract

Nearly fifty years after the “Messmer Plan” (March 1974), France committed in 2022-2023 to reviving its nuclear power industry by planning the construction of three pairs of EPR2 reactors, as well as making significant investments in the development of more exploratory technologies such as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs). While successive crises (health, geopolitical, energy, etc.) have played a major role, it is above all the growing urgency of the climate crisis, reflected by the public authorities in the need for an “energy transition,” that is presented as justifying increased use of nuclear energy. But what role can nuclear energy play in the various “transition” scenarios being considered? Are the conditions in place for the large-scale deployment of new nuclear infrastructure? Is the very idea of an “energy transition” a realistic hypothesis? These questions invite us to revisit the links between the idea of energy transition and the history of civil nuclear power, a history that encompasses and combines scientific, technical, and political dimensions and actors. In order to shed light on the choices (or non-choices) relating to nuclear power and energy transition, it was necessary to bring together representatives from academia, industry, and politics, represented here by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, Olivier Bard, and Raphaël Schellenberger. Three main themes were addressed in this debate: (1) the genealogy of the idea of energy transition, its meaning, and its application in the industrial and political worlds; (2) the similarities (and differences) between the situation in 2023-2024 and that which was unavoidable for French nuclear power in the period preceding the launch of the Messmer plan in 1973-1974; (3) the modalities of “long-term governance” and the possible forms of coupling between technology and politics called for by both the nuclear revival and “energy transition” projects.