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The know-how seems to have been lost though. The latest nuclear power plant they've tried to build (the Flamanville EPR) is severely late, and the budget has ballooned to several times the initial estimation.

> The latest nuclear power plant they've tried to build (the Flamanville EPR) is severely late

it is only late because the managers insisted on marketing and building it on 5 years while the engineers knew that it would be 10 years from the beginning. Pretty sure most people here know this exact situation from their job :-)

Was the 3x cost increase also to be expected?

Flamanville EPR is one of the first EPR to be built. Of course it is expensive... It gets cheaper as you build more.

No it hasn't been lost. It's just become over regulated just like in the USA.

Specifically, the project has been plagued with poor welds and cracks in critical structural parts.

That being said all I know about the project comes from the news on the French radio... What new regulations are you talking about?

https://www.reuters.com/article/france-nuclearpower/building...

France does have the same problem with renewables though, they are way over schedule and much more expensive than planned.

And, ironically, Illinois, which gets a full 54 percent of its energy from nuclear.