The amount of money spent on nuclear reactor research is insane. It's very expensive, it takes very long, it requires so much security. The whole private nuclear sector was heavily subsidized.

And nobody wants a reactor or storage facility in their backyard. Keep in mind Germany has a higher population density than France. And even France has problems to find locations for their new plants.

In the end after Fukushima, there just wasn't enough support left in the population.