EC Probe Puts France's Nuclear Subsidy Plan Under Months of Scrutiny

EC Probe Puts France's Nuclear Subsidy Plan Under Months of Scrutiny Brussels launched a formal investigation on 19 May into Paris's EUR 73bn six-reactor programme, with talks expected to extend through the coming months. The European Commission launched a formal investigation on Tuesday (2026-05-19) into France's proposal to subsidise the construction of six new nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 10 GW, with the project estimated to cost EUR 73bn in 2020 euros, Montel reported. France's economy and energy ministry acknowledged the talks would continue for the "coming months," leaving the timeline for the continent's most ambitious new-build nuclear programme in suspension.^1,2 That uncertainty sits against a backdrop of mounting evidence that large-scale nuclear construction rarely lands close to its opening bid. The Flamanville EPR reactor in France became fully operational in December after a delay of more than twelve years, with costs soaring from an initial estimate of £2.85 billion to more than £11.4 billion — an overrun that turned a cost-competitive baseload project into a cautionary tale for every new-build programme that followed.⁵ The damage is not confined to France. The UK was named the world's most expensive place to build nuclear power plants in a 2025 government review. A final investment decision was taken in July on Sizewell C, two large reactors that could cost more than £38 billion ($51 billion). Britain's government has set a target to increase the country's nuclear capacity fourfold, arguing that regulatory simplification can contain future costs.^3,5 Whether simplification can achieve what previous rounds of engineering optimism could not is an open question. But the Flamanville experience suggests that once construction delays compound, financing costs on large borrowed sums do the rest of the damage. Projects of this complexity take decades to deliver and carry schedules that history suggests will slip.^4,5 For France, what is under investigation covers both the construction subsidy and the operational support framework for the six reactors. The EC's state aid scrutiny centres on whether the terms distort single-market competition, a test with no fixed deadline. The ministry said it would supply Brussels with "all the additional information relevant" to the enquiry.^1,2 Europe's broader capacity ambitions provide the context. The EC's own roadmap forecast nuclear capacity rising from 100 GW to as much as 145 GW by 2050. Barclays projected that net nuclear capacity outside China and Russia will grow by more than half to above 450 GW over that period, with small modular reactors accounting for 40 to 60 percent of the total, a market the bank values at around one trillion dollars.³ Neither France's six-reactor programme nor Sizewell C will deliver output before the mid-2030s at the earliest. In the interim, the European power stack will continue to run on conventional gas and renewables. Nuclear's role in that mix over the next decade depends less on planned capacity than on what is actually running.³ The immediate question is when the EC investigation concludes. An unfavourable ruling or prolonged uncertainty could force Paris to revise its subsidy structure, resetting a procurement timeline that has already absorbed years of pre-approval work. France has said months. The nuclear industry has heard that before.^2,1