Heating France with nuclear power: Alternative heat politics and competing nuclear regimes during the 1970s

Abstract Nuclear power is largely analysed as a contested energy production technology with a focus on the factors for the success or failure of the development of nuclear programmes but little questioning of the usages associated with this energy production. By concentrating specifically on the question of usage, this article sheds light on an original timeline of the development of nuclear power in France in the 1970s. It highlights the existence of an intense debate on the means of using the energy that would be produced by this industry and on the models of technical, political, economic and spatial organisation of the energy system that would result. Based on an analytical work of several historical archival funds, this paper brings into light how three sociotechnical regimes were in competition to organize the French energy system during the development of the national nuclear programme. From an historical geography perspective, this paper provides insights for a critical rethinking of the development of nuclear programmes as well as for the politics surrounding the phase-out of nuclear power.