France Could Be 100% Nuclear – Why Not Australia?
By Steven Tripp
originally published in the spectator australia - please support the spectator australia!
“80% of electricity production is done by nuclear (in France). Actually, we could have 100%, but we have, let’s say, ‘renewables’ imposed by the EU.”
This was the response by Charles-Henri Gallois, when I had the pleasure of interviewing him during a recent episode of the Global Discussion Forum. I had asked him to confirm whether France sourced 70% of its power from nuclear energy.
Charles-Henri is the Chairman of ‘Reprenons le Controle’, (Let's Take Back Control), a French political party, and the author of two books, 'The Economic Illusions of the European Union' and 'Our Great Challenges of the 21st Century: Energy and Immigration'.
It was my first opportunity to interview a French politician and I took the chance to clarify France’s reliance on nuclear power.
It came in the aftermath of the Pittwater by-election in Sydney, last month in October. While handing out how-to-vote cards for Liberal candidate Georgia Ryburn, I got into a discussion with a Teal volunteer.
My aim was not to argue with the Teal, but to try to understand him and where he got his information.
Low and behold, he asked me if I had seen the recent ABC Four Corners report on nuclear energy.
Of course, the ABC is the source of all truth in Teal-land.
He proceeded to tell me that nuclear energy would not work in Australia, citing the recent GenCost report by the CSIRO and AEMO.
In reply, I asked him why Australia was the exception when so many other countries relied on nuclear power.
His answer was that nuclear power contributed only a fraction of power to those countries. To which I brought up France and told him that 70% of their power comes from nuclear (corrected to be 80% by Charles-Henri).
The Teal volunteer told me that he had ‘never heard that before’ and promised me that he would ‘look into it’ later.
Fast-forward to Charles-Henri Gallois. When answering my question, he was under no illusions about nuclear.
“I think the best way to have cheap energy, it’s nuclear power,” he added in his reply.
“I think nuclear energy has two main advantages. It’s cheap…and then you don’t have emissions”.
Part of my question to Charles-Henri was to ask if Australia should follow France in adopting nuclear energy. His reply was decisive.
“I think you should definitely go for nuclear. In France it’s working. The issue is, they have sabotaged it with the EU. We could have almost 100% electricity done by nuclear.”
Speaking with his heavy French accent, Charles-Henri then began to tell me about the technology France was developing to recycle their nuclear waste.
“Currently we are working with nuclear plants of second or third generation. But you know they have some research about fourth generation nuclear plants. And these nuclear plants, why it will be, let’s say, ‘revolution’ in terms of energy, it’s because you can use the waste of uranium.”
Charles-Henri then went on to detail what recycling uranium would mean for France.
“To have fourth generation nuclear power, it would change definitely the concept for human being, in terms of energy and in terms of self-independence. It means we wouldn’t even depend on uranium, because with what we have in waste on French soil, we would be able to live here during 2,000 years.”
Charles-Henri was referring to France’s well-established program for recycling and managing its nuclear waste.
A French company, Orano, has been transforming and recycling nuclear materials for 60 years.
According to the Orano website, “Following recycling operations, 96% of spent nuclear fuel (95% uranium + 1% plutonium) can be reused to manufacture new fuel, which will then supply more electricity in turn”.
Mixed Oxide Fuel, otherwise known as MOX, is a type of fuel that can be produced from spent uranium, as the Orano website states, “This type of fuel assembly derived from used fuel recycling has already been used to power 44 reactors around the world and is contributing 10 % of the nuclear electricity generated in France”.
“From 2025, by recycling the uranium contained in used fuel, we will increase the proportion of electricity generated using recycled materials to 25%. This figure could rise to 30% thanks to MOX 2, a new type of fuel resulting from the multi-recycling of nuclear fuels.”
In a documentary video published on the DW Planet A YouTube channel, which is part of Germany's international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, Orana’s Sylvain Renouf was interviewed.
“We don’t consider them as waste.” He proudly boasted, standing above a large nuclear waste cooling pool. “This is like a uranium and plutonium mine. It’s a strategic resource for the country, for the customers. 96% of what is in the pool can be recycled. So, it is a huge amount of energy”.
Interestingly, Orano does not limit its recycling capabilities to France and currently has contracts with Japan, Russia, the Netherlands, China, Italy and even Australia.
Yes, Australia already recycles its nuclear fuel.
The potential advancements in nuclear energy are substantial and playing out before us. Not only can spent uranium be recycled and reused, but the arrival of new generations of reactors, such as small modular reactors, are sparking a new era for the nuclear industry.
Yet, despite the Federal Coalition’s willingness to adopt nuclear energy, the other side of the political divide desperately cling to their intermittent energy utopia.
It is led by Labor’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, who is on a daily attack against Peter Dutton’s nuclear policy.
Meanwhile, despite claiming that ‘The world on track for a 3.1C rise without action’ on her X page, Teals like Zali Steggall refuse to acknowledge the contribution nuclear energy could make in reducing our ‘dreaded’ carbon emissions.
Ms. Steggall went so far as to quote Matt Kean in the Guardian by posting on X, “Nuclear: "no bigger rent-seeking parasite" - propping up the coal industry, to "squeeze out the last bits of profit at the expense of Australian consumers””.
Back in France, Charles-Henri Gallois, can see his country’s adoption and success with nuclear energy firsthand. He concluded his answer to me by saying:
“I think it is the energy of the future.”
By Steven Tripp