France includes nuclear power exit among options via Reuters

Fri Jul 8, 2011 8:42am EDT

* France mulls full exit by 2040-2050, not govt’s choice

* Option part of wider study on French future energy mix

* Poll showed three quarters of French want full exit

PARIS, July 8 (Reuters) – France raised the possibility for the first time of pulling out of nuclear power although its energy minister stressed on Friday that this was just one of many scenarios, not the one favoured by the government.

Energy Minister Eric Besson announced on radio Europe 1 the launch of a study on Friday on the country’s energy mix by 2050, with options including a complete exit from nuclear production, a cut in the share of nuclear to 50 percent and a progressive reduction of total electricity production in France.

“We will study all possible scenarios for what we call the energy mix,” he said. “It will be done with total objectivity, in full transparency, without avoiding any scenario (…) including the scenarios of a nuclear exit.”

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