This year, French authorities approved the ongoing construction of the EUR Flamanville, which was already in the process of being completed. It should be noted that this initiative constitutes a key part of the nation’s energy strategy and has also triggered debates around the globe concerning the conditions under which nuclear power should be employed in the green transition of the world.

Since 2007, the development of the Flamanville EPR, the third-generation reactor, was repeatedly halted due to various technical challenges and cost overcrunes. On the one hand, French authorities have not yet agreed on the practicality and safety of the project. Hence, the recent approvals from ASN, the French Nuclear Safety Authority, are definitely a positive move, although they are accompanied by changed timelines and budget allocations.

Advocates of nuclear energy promote the inauguration of EPR at Flamanville as a marker of France’s moving on to sustainable and reliable low carbon energy sector. For a long time now, nuclear power has received near-universal recognition as an important part of energy diversification because it provides a carbon-free and reliable source of electricity, an impression that is shared in a rather great measure by many advocates of nuclear power.

Vociferous opposition to the project has also enabled irredentism of the safety of nuclear power plants, waste disposal, and the perils associated with nuclear accidents. Many critic ache the environmental and health effects of nuclear and the long-term issue of radioactive waste disposal as well.

The challenges highlighted are still present but the Flamanville EPR constitutes a milestone towards upgrading and the expansion of nuclear infrastructure in France and in other countries yet to consider nuclear power as part of their energy transition accordance. The global community still wanders at nuclear power and its role while the efforts are in effect to combat the climate change crisis, and this is, however, a contested issue.