From memory, the issue with France is specifically that they use a russian design for the fuel rods that only russia makes.
I wanna say that is hexagonal rods, vs the us standard of round.
There are projects running to make these hexagonal ones in western supply chains, but that is at least 10 years away, and there are not enough rods in storage to bridge that.
And for new plants you’ll see initial prospects for the cheap russian format, and then either the plant sees a massive cost overrun when they build the way more expensive more available rod design, or it’s dependent right from the start.
From memory, the issue with France is specifically that they use a russian design for the fuel rods that only russia makes.
I wanna say that is hexagonal rods, vs the us standard of round.
There are projects running to make these hexagonal ones in western supply chains, but that is at least 10 years away, and there are not enough rods in storage to bridge that.
And for new plants you’ll see initial prospects for the cheap russian format, and then either the plant sees a massive cost overrun when they build the way more expensive more available rod design, or it’s dependent right from the start.