With almost 70% of its electricity generation coming from nuclear power, France ranks as the most “nuclearized” country in the world. Setting out to understand the ramifications of this dependency, Esther Hoffenberg traveled to Normandy, the epicenter of France’s nuclear power generation and the site of the La Hague plant.

 

Through a series of interviews with local residents, politicians, industrial representatives, and environmental activists, Welcome to Nuclear Land explores France’s ambivalent relationship to nuclear power. While the Le Hague mayor dismisses environmental concerns, unscripted conversations with local residents and regulators reveal anxieties just underneath the surface. In a classroom discussion, students are shown field study results demonstrating elevated levels of radioactive material in local flora, prompting difficult questions about the environmental trade-offs of nuclear power generation. With the problem of radioactive waste disposal left unresolved, residents contemplate the ecological and health impacts of continued reliance on nuclear power—not just for themselves, but for future generations to come.