France

France was an early entree into the nuke power industry and today France gets 70% of its power from nuclear. Most of their plants were built in the 60's and 70's and with a life expectancy of 60 years they are now faced with a decision to build new plants or refurbish the existing plants. The government recently decided to build new and this opens the door to small thorium reactor plants. France is currently helping to finance the building of these thorium units by Roles Royce in England. These new thorium reactors can be built more quickly and at less cost. The one thing standing in the way of this transition is politics. Is the vested interest in the existing system too strong to open the door to the new way of thorium?