However, the current problems are not only down to bad luck....

However, the current problems are not only down to bad luck. Ahead of the 2012 presidential elections, Socialist François Hollande cut a deal with the Greens in exchange for their support: he vowed to shut the two reactors at Fessenheim, France’s oldest nuclear plant, and cut to50 percent the proportion of French energy nuclear generates by 2025. After he won, Hollande closed the two reactors – even if he reneged on part of the deal by keeping nuclear’s contribution to French energy needs at around 70 percent.