I'm old enough to remember when Chernobyl was on the news, not a fictionalised version. The initial "discard all milk production across Europe" phase lasted a few weeks, but the last restrictions in the UK took 26 years to lift: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-18299228

(it's also been in the news recently as it was right in the middle of the Russian assault on Kyiv!)

The French nuclear mix is currently 58% : https://www.rte-france.com/en/eco2mix/power-generation-energ... because a large number of reactors are offline: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1549986/macron-france...

There are two problems with nuclear power:

- a "black swan" low probability risk of something really bad happening, despite everyone saying it can't happen, and poisoning the surrounding area

- it's expensive, takes a long time to build, and can develop expensive problems. Many of the French reactors are approaching the end of their 50 year design life.

That said, it was definitely a mistake for Germany to close plants without a specific safety risk.