The French nuclear programme was forcibly imposed to the country by Pierre Messmer in February 1974, taking advantage of the fact George Pompidou was dying. The French Council of Ministers voted the launch of the « Contrat-Programme 1 », which was very quickly drafted to be voted before the death of the President. Analysts of the industry have also criticized the French decision to develop the pressurized water technology (PWR) instead of the boiling water technology (BWR), a choice probably made because PWRs are more appropriate for the production of military plutonium (because of the facility to discharge the rods and retrieve the plutonium 239 and 241 bred from the fertile uranium 238) even though they are more difficult to build than BWRs.
There are four EPRs being built currently, one in France (Flamanville), one in Finland (Olkiluoto) and two in China (Taïshan). Another French EPR is planned in Penly. Another EPR reactor in upstate New York had been programmed, at Nine Mile Point, but it was officially cancelled in Spring 2014. Two EPRs will also be built at Hinkley Point in the United Kingdom.
The European Pressurized Reactor has been developed in order to be the new generation of PWRs. One of its theoretical advantages is its ability to produce more power (it can generate up to 1, 6 GW, while usually PWRs do not climb above 1,3 GW) – the EPR is mainly a « supercharged PWR ». One of its specificities is the use of a recycled fuel, the MOX (« mixed oxide »). It contains approximatively 90 – 95% fertile uranium and 5 – 10% plutonium. The MOX exists therefore as a consequence of the existence of the military plutonium industry. Used fuel from the plants (95% fertile uranium, 1% plutonium, 4% ultimate waste) is stored for 3 to 5 years in water pools, and then plutonium is extracted and sent to the Melox plant in Marcoule (France), the only one in the world currently producing MOX. So the use of MOX is a solution to make use of plutonium coming from used fuel (the industry says it’s a solution to reduce proliferation, even though the IAEA actually says it induces a proliferation risk), and of fertile uranium left out by enrichment, as well as a solution for saving enriched uranium. In Russia and in the USA MOX was also seen as a solution to burn military plutonium coming from dismantled weapons. MOX is used in only 10% of the world’s nuclear reactors, half of them being in France, where MOX, at a concentration of 30%, is part of the fuel of 21 of the 58 nuclear reactors. The EPR will be 100% fueled with MOX.