Plan Messmer was the French government's program of rapid nuclear power station construction, announced by Prime Minister Pierre Messmer in March 1974 in direct response to the 1973 oil crisis, which had exposed France's heavy dependence on imported oil for electricity generation. The plan committed the state utility Electricite de France to build dozens of standardized pressurized water reactors over the following two decades, a pace of nuclear construction not matched by any other country before or since. By the plan's substantial completion in the 1990s, nuclear power supplied roughly seventy percent of French electricity, giving France one of the least carbon-intensive electricity systems among major industrialized nations and a large net electricity export position in Europe.
Facts
Project TypeNational Energy Initiative 1 StatusThe core reactor construction program was substantially complete by the mid-1990s; France's resulting nuclear-heavy generation mix remains in place 2 ScaleBuilt dozens of nuclear reactors in under two decades, ultimately supplying roughly 70 percent of French electricity from nuclear power 2 Connections
Operated By
Implemented by EDF, the French state electricity utility, which built and operates the resulting reactor fleet.
Uses Source
1974 French national program to rapidly expand nuclear power generation following the oil crisis.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: France, located there.
Sources
1. World Nuclear Association Information Library
World Nuclear Associationhttps://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/franceQuote, https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/france
France's present electricity generation mix is a result of the French government deciding in 1974, just after the first oil shock, to rapidly expand the country's nuclear power capacity, using Westinghouse technology.
2. International Atomic Energy Agency Official Site
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