France already has the largest number of nuclear power plants per capita in the world, and is still building new reactors: it wants to decarbonize its economy and achieve energy sovereignty. On nuclear power as a shield to protect against crises, radioactive ponds and the roots of French nuclear love: a local view.
Foaming waves hit the cliffs, the wind whistles, seagulls circle in the sky and clouds dance. The air tastes salty, and cows graze on the grass-covered rocky outcroppings. But it is not this wild beauty that makes the Cotentin Peninsula in northern France famous. And certainly nature is not immune.
The picturesque plateau on the English Channel is a proud testimony to France's nuclear history. Nowhere else in Europe are nuclear facilities as close together as on this northern tip of Normandy: the world's largest nuclear reprocessing plant, The Hague, sits high on rocks there. A little further west, in the historic port city of Cherbourg with its magnificent cathedral, nuclear-powered submarines are being built. Not far away is the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant. France's first third-generation pressurized water reactor is scheduled to start operating there in the summer.
