Dylan Meyer

Nuclear energy has been a hallmark of France’s energy mix for half a century. Although France is third in nuclear capacity in the world, the country leads in the percentage of its generation from nuclear, with its 57 reactors contributing approximately 70% of the country’s net generation. While this is currently a position of strength, an issue is looming and becoming more pressing with each passing year: the age of the reactors.

Over the past 20 years, transmission buildout in the United States has slowed significantly, largely due to a lack of load growth across the nation’s power grid. This stagnation allowed system operators to maintain reliability without investing in new transmission projects or embracing developments in grid-enhancing technologies (GETs).