That's just funny given that Edf turns a large profit every year selling electricity and that money is turned in to the French General Fund to be spent on other government expenditures.

Why is nuclear power so successful and popular in France?

Can we now safely assume the correct nswer is SOCIALISM?

I think in this case it is, the electricity industry is government owned and operated. Isn't that the definition of Socialism?

Sure it does...

With taxpayer funding you always "turn a profit".

I'm not sure you can really call that Socialism ...

First of all a lot of these big "national enterprises" , EDF for electricity , SNCF for rail date back from right after WWII or just before for SNCF, France Telecom (ex PTT) even before, and are all related somehow to "infrastructures".

And since the war, there as not been any "socialist labeled" government before 1981 and Mitterrand's election, it was either "Gaullist" in power or "center right"

Now it is true that there is a strong "services publics" tradition associated to the "corps de l'Etat" and major engineering (and administration) schools as stated above.

But this tradition is somehow down for quite some time already, the Anglo Saxon "liberalism" (European meaning) having taken its toll on this glorious devoted nationalist spirit ...

And in concrete terms, all these markets are being liberalized these days (EDF has been splited between the network and producers part, same for SNCF (network and trains operators), telecoms deregulated like for AT&T at about same time, etc)

To tell the truth I'm not sure the big "no government everything private" dogma means much when you talk about infrstructures ...
And for instance, whereas in France and other European countries many freeways are privately operated (with tolls), the US highways infrastructure is what ? A socialist shithole ? Aren't the US, with their ridiculous 10% tax level on fossile fuels compared to a 60 or 70 european levels, a bit retarded ?

What was exactly AT&T before the deregulation ? Is AT&T eating most of what was deregulated right now or not ?

As to EDF, the CEA, or Areva making or not a profit, yes they do (maybe not for the CEA)

That is probably part of it. When the nukes are a national enterprise and government controlled, it appears to shut up some of the looney luddites on the left who instinctively oppose anything that a private corporation does.

I'll bet in the US, if Obama was to propose a major nuclear government program as part of his energy plan----a US nuclear program where the government owns and operates the nukes rather then local utilities---- the left and the media wouldn't make a peep of opposition.


Would friendly socialist nukes silence the anti-nuclear mob in the US?

So we must move toward a socialistic state to get anything done then. I thought so.

You have short memory or you are an infant. The anti-nuke movement started under Democrats and was strongest during the Carter administration.

Plant anyway you spin it, one must conclude that you are a knee-jerk Republican reactionary who would rather shoot yourself in your foot (and/or other neural ganglians) than think for yourself.

Is the Republican womb still soft? Or is it just getting a bit slimy.

Wise up Pstarr.

The left and the US media are different then they were back decades ago when you were young. The left and the US media used to be anti-war and anti-nuke back in the late 20th century...........but they sold out their morality and their principles to the democratic party.

Now the anti-war left and media are completely silent and impotent as Obama pledges to keep 30-50,000 troops in Iraq after the 2011 deadline that Bush set up, and silent as Obama and the democratic congress surges US troops into Afghanistan and expands the US role in the war in Pakistan.

Its highly likely the anti-nuke and media would be equally silent and impotent if Obama supported nukes because these sleazebags have all sold out to the dems.

Is it because our lobbyists have passports?

They need passports to travel to Switzerland to deposit money in the legislator's secret bank accounts-----apparently the "dealmaking" is intense on Obama's new 'cap and tax" energy bill.........mega government handouts in the form of free energy tax credits are going to the big financial institutions and banks doing the carbon trading, with mega-taxes being levied on the average guy to pay for it all.