while Americans have been sitting on their collective hands, France is generating SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT of all their electricity with nuclear power today!
personally, I like the combo nuclear desalination/hydrogen/electrical generating plants
like these:
http://www.aaenvironment.com/nuhydro.htm
France's electrical industry is so far ahead of the rest of the world its incredible.
A possibility in Europe is that the big nations like Germany and the UK will not be able to get the will to put in any major generation themselves. But one thing they can do is import electricity from other nations, regardless of how it is generated.
So the French could not only build plants in France to provide power for themselves as their demand grows... But also build plants in France to supply the demand growth in the UK and Germany.. and I would assume a lot of the other surrounding nations as well.
France could get very rich just off of this... and they'd deserve it.