The Nuclear Power Plant at Le Carnet : A Controversial Project of the Mitterrand Period (1981-1997)

Résumé 0

The Loire estuary nuclear power plant project, elaborated by EDF (the French national electrical company) in 1974 and abandoned in 1997, stands out in France for its temporal scope. It is therefore an ideal vantage point from which to observe the changes in anti-nuclear mobilization that occurred during François Mitterrand’s presidency. Initially contested in Le Pellerin by local Parti Socialiste (Socialist Party) officials, the project was suspended in 1981 and moved 15 kilometers downstream to Le Carnet. It was then slowly defended by the same Socialist officials at the regional level, but also constantly attacked. Its history shows the fluctuating positions of national and local officials, and Socialist activists, as well as their relationship to anti-nuclear movements. It also bears witness to transformations in the French nuclear industry, from the equipment program in the 1970s-1980s to the reallocation of resources to support the EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) at the end of the century.