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Nuclear energy, in the form of fission, is the primary source of energy in France. In 2004, fission energy made up the largest share of France's energy consumption at 39%.〔http://www.iea.org/Sankey/index.html#?c=France&s=Balance〕 Looking purely at electricity, though, 407 TWh (75%) out of the country's total production of 541 TWh of electricity was from fission-electric power stations, the highest percentage in the world. Électricité de France (EDF) — the country's main electricity generation and distribution company – manages the country's 59 power reactors.〔Steve Kidd.(Nuclear in France – what did they get right? ) ''Nuclear Engineering International'', 22 June 2009.〕 EDF is substantially owned by the French Government, with around 85% shares in government hands.〔(). "Shareholding policy". Électricité de France. 31 December 2007〕 EdF has said its uncompleted third-generation nuclear reactor European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) project, the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant, will be delayed until 2016, due to "both structural and economic reasons," which will bring the project's total cost to €8.5 billion.〔()http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/03/us-edf-nuclear-flamanville-idUSBRE8B214620121203 Retrieved 31 March 2013.〕 As of 2012, France's electricity price to household customers is the seventh-cheapest amongst the 27 members of the European Union, and also the seventh-cheapest to industrial consumers, with a rate of €0.14 per kWh to households and €0.07 per kWh to industrial consumers. France was the biggest energy exporter in the EU in 2012, exporting 45TWh of electricity to its neighbours. During very cold or hot periods demand routinely exceeds supply due to the lack of more flexible generating plants, and France needs to import electricity.〔〔 France's nuclear power industry has been called "a success story" that has put the nation "ahead of the world" in terms of providing cheap energy with low CO2 emissions.〔http://www.theledger.com/article/20080814/COLUMNISTS/808140356〕 However, following François Hollande's victory in the 2012 Presidential Election, there may be a partial nuclear phaseout in France, with his Socialist party in favour of closing the oldest 24 reactors by 2025. ==History== France has a long relationship with nuclear power, starting with Henri Becquerel's discovery of natural radioactivity in the 1890s and continued by famous nuclear scientists like Pierre and Marie Curie. Before World War II, France had been mainly involved in nuclear research through the work of the Joliot-Curies. In 1945 the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) created the ''Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique'' (CEA) governmental agency, and Nobel prize winner Frédéric Joliot-Curie, member of the French Communist Party (PCF) since 1942, was appointed high-commissioner. He was relieved of his duties in 1950 for political reasons, and would be one of the 11 signatories to the Russell-Einstein Manifesto in 1955. The CEA was created by Charles de Gaulle on 18 October 1945. Its mandate is to conduct fundamental and applied research into many areas, including the design of nuclear reactors, the manufacturing of integrated circuits, the use of radionuclides for medical treatments, seismology and tsunami propagation, and the safety of computerized systems. Nuclear research was discontinued for a time after the war because of the instability of the Fourth Republic and the lack of finances available.〔(Notice on France ) on ''Global Security'' 〕 However, in the 1950s a civil nuclear research program was started, a by-product of which would be plutonium. In 1956 a secret Committee for the Military Applications of Atomic Energy was formed and a development program for delivery vehicles started. In 1957, soon after the Suez Crisis and the diplomatic tension with both the USSR and the United States, French president René Coty decided the creation of the C.S.E.M. in what was then French Sahara, a new nuclear tests facility replacing the C.I.E.E.S.〔(Sahara ) on the website of the French Minister of Defence 〕 See France and nuclear weapons. The first nuclear power plant by EDF in France was opened in 1962.〔 Other nuclear facilities in France were online by 1956, for instance Marcoule.〔http://www.areva.com/EN/operations-3130/history-the-plant-of-marcoule.html〕〔Marcoule Nuclear Site〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nuclear power in France」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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