The Control of Nature? France and Nuclear Power

As a historian of technology, I see one of the major themes of history as how humans have attempted to develop technologies that outmode or limit our dependence on nature.  We believe we can build systems that are more reliable.  One example of this is nuclear energy.  (We will leave out the mining of uranium for now.) In the 1950s and 1960s it seemed to promise the world limitless nuclear energy.  NC State was famous for having the first nuclear reactor on a college campus.  The French, with little access to petroleum and a strong central government, went all in on nuclear power and today roughly 80% of their electricity is provided by nuclear power, the highest percentage in the world.  Jean-Marc Jancovici thinks that is the best solution to climate change.  When the war in Ukraine led to price spikes in petroleum, it seemed like France was in good shape with its nuclear capacity.  But nature always seems to come back into the picture.  Nuclear reactors rely on water for cooling, that is why they are typically built by rivers.  This year France has been having an unprecedented drought and heat waves.  There is the worry that France may have to shut down some of its nuclear reactors because the water discharged from the reactors would heat the river water too high, threatening various forms of river life.    Don’t ever think we can control nature or take it out of the equation.