Two events shaped modern French strategy. The first, of course, was the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 and the emergence of Britain as the world's dominant naval power and Europe's leading imperial power. This did not eliminate French naval or imperial power, but it profoundly constrained it. France could not afford to challenge Britain any more and had to find a basis for accommodation, ending several centuries of hostility if not distrust. Read More »
BY GERALDINE AMIEL AND GUY CHAZAN
PARIS—France, one of the world's nuclear powers, moved quickly to try to reassure the world and its own people that its nuclear plants were safe, as Japan's unfolding crisis threw a wrench in a much-vaunted global nuclear renaissance.Nuclear energy accounts for around 80% of France's electricity output, and the country has for decades invested money and manpower to build state-of-the-art nuclear plants, including so-called third-generation reactors that are considered among the world's safest and most advanced.
Buoyed by recent renewed interest in nuclear energy, companies such as France's Areva SA and Électricité de France SA—two of the industry's biggest ...