The governance of civil nuclear power in France: advantages and disadvantages of deep state involvement

Abstract

Abstract France’s civil nuclear power industry emerged from the earlier military nuclear programme as a programme owned and controlled by the state. This was in line with the nation’s longstanding style of economic and industrial governance. Such an approach had the advantage that the capacity of nuclear power grew rapidly, with generous funding and close coordination by the state. During the 1980s and 1990s, the nuclear power industry succeeding in resisting broader moves to reduce the role of the state in French industry. Links between the government, the regulator and the industry remained close, aided by longstanding informal networks between key individuals. The first decade of the 2000s saw the start of significant reform of the nuclear regulatory infrastructure. However, by this time the disadvantages of long-term state control of the nuclear industry were becoming increasingly apparent. These included deficiencies in policy making, industry regulation and corporate management which have brought France’s nuclear industry to a crisis. This analysis applies institutional theory to show how the nation’s longstanding approach to economic and industrial governance has shaped the development of its nuclear industry and thus provides a salutary example for other countries pursuing a similar path.