The civilian nuclear should not be restricted to a few. Opening Friday – at OECD headquarters in Paris – the international conference on nuclear Nicolas Sarkozy immediately insisted on the principle of cooperation. "France believes that the share of nuclear power for peaceful purposes is a decisive factor for compliance with environmental concerns and a better distribution of wealth in the world," explained the president.

A clear signal at a time when some sixty countries intend to establish one or more reactors to produce electricity.Except that such a machine is expensive – more than 5 billion euros for example, the EPR (the prototype third generation being built by EDF and Areva) – and it requires highly skilled personnel to make function.

Specifically, Nicolas Sarkozy called on Monday in Paris that the financing of major international institutions can benefit new entrants in the atom. "I do not understand and I do not accept ostracism of nuclear power (…), the current situation is tantamount to condemning the country to an energy more expensive and polluting, has hammered the tenant of the Elysee.

Regarding the development of skills, Nicolas Sarkozy announced the creation in France of an International Training Institute. It will house a "school of international nuclear" as part of an "international network of centers of excellence".An initial implementation has already been decided: it will be in Jordan, a country with which France has signed a nuclear cooperation agreement.

Pathway lights

Overall, the intervention of Nicolas Sarkozy should be read in light of the ambitions of the French sector, which is developed contacts with many countries – in addition to firm orders – to sell the EPR. A chain but seriously mistreated in Abu Dhabi where the lights consortium (consisting of EDF, GDF Suez, Areva and Total) has been outflanked by South Korea.

Monday, referring implicitly to this failure, the president regretted that the market does not classify reactors that according to the price criterion. But the EPR is significantly more expensive than most other models with which it is directly in competition.It should therefore, according to Nicolas Sarkozy, that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) establish a classification "as the criterion of safety."

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