France Buries Its Pride

As British Physicist Otto Frisch once said: "Uranium is a prima donna difficult to seduce." While other European nations incorporated American expertise into their atomic power industries, France under Charles de Gaulle proudly clung to its own nuclear technology. The country's four atomic power plants use natural uranium, the only nuclear fuel available to France in large amounts. The least fissionable of atomic fuels, natural uranium requires costly installations. The system has been a technical success but an economic failure. Says Marcel Boiteux, general manager of Electricite de France, the state-controlled power network: "The cost of electricity is 50% higher than that produced by more traditional systems."

In the sharpest break yet with its Gaullist heritage, the government of President Georges Pompidou has just decided to build atomic power stations based on American technology. The government will ask for bids from interested companies and make its decision this spring. The new plants will burn enriched uranium, which is highly fissionable and relatively cheap to use. Almost all of the Western world's enriched uranium is produced in gaseous-diffusion plants owned by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. For a time, at least, France would become dependent on U.S. fuel. The government announcement angered French atomic workers, who face the loss of 2,600 jobs because of cutbacks. Last week almost all of the 31,000 atomic workers went on strike in protest.

A leading contender for the job of developing the new atomic stations is Westinghouse Electric. With one plant in Spain, Westinghouse is negotiating for another in Belgium as part of an effort to form a $1 billion-a-year electrical equipment combine on the Continent. Last year the De Gaulle government prevented Westinghouse from buying Jeumont-Schneider of France, a key company in the consolidation plan, but Westinghouse hopes for a friendlier decision from Pompidou.

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