When France was badass

France built 42 nuclear reactors in the 1980s, according to the count circulating on social media. It was the response to the 1973 oil crisis and turned the country into the world's largest nuclear producer per capita.

The figure is making the rounds these days: **42 nuclear reactors** built in France during the 1980s. The number was put out there by **David Heinemeier Hansson**, creator of the Ruby on Rails framework, in a post on X. The exact figure allows for some nuance, but the phenomenon it describes is real and well documented.

## The Messmer Plan and the oil crisis

It all started in 1974. The first oil crisis, triggered in October 1973 when OPEC cut production and quadrupled the price of crude, left France with an uncomfortable energy dependence. Prime Minister **Pierre Messmer** announced in March 1974 a plan to build 13 nuclear power plants within two years. The goal: replace imported oil with domestic uranium.

The program was executed at a estimulante ilegal that is hard to imagine today. Between 1977 and 1987, dozens of pressurized water reactors were connected to the grid, a standardized design that allowed components to be manufactured in series. The figure of 42 cited in the tweet refers to the reactors brought online during that period, not just the strict 1980s.

## From importing oil to exporting electricity

The result was an energy turnaround without parallel in Europe. France went from generating a quarter of its electricity from nuclear power in 1980 to exceeding **75%** in the early 1990s. Today it maintains **56 operational reactors** spread across 18 plants, according to data from **EDF**, the state-owned utility.

That capacity turned the country into a net exporter of electricity and the state with the highest percentage of nuclear generation on the planet. The cost: an enormous public bill, concentration of technical risk, and a political debate that is still alive.

## What the tweet doesn't say

Heinemeier Hansson's post celebrates the capacity for execution and doesn't get into the problems. The French nuclear fleet has suffered mass shutdowns due to stress corrosion detected in 2021 and 2022, which took a dozen reactors out of service. The management of spent fuel still has no definitive solution.

France built fast because there was a state that decided, a public utility that executed, and a crisis that pushed things forward. Replicating that today runs into regulatory timelines, financing costs, and local opposition that didn't exist in the 1970s.