I seem to recall that when Mitterrand first campaigner he was mildly on board the anti-nuclear bandwagon. Within a year of taking office he was firmly back in the pro-nuclear camp. I think the trade unions had something to do with that. Socialist that he was, he knew what side of his bread was buttered.
The French as a nation have a better attitude about nuclear power than we do - and a pretty good safety and cleanliness record on top of that.
I wonder how many of these Luddites were imports from Germany, Spain and England as well - professional leftist protesters.