> They continued building up their nuclear power plants well into the 1990s but failed to bring construction costs and delays down like your comment suggests.

Absolutely true. It proved expensive even at large scale and with full support of the state. I don't trust promises or hypotheticals of cheap nuclear power, at all.

But here's the thing: France succeeded with decarbonizing their electricity production. It's a pretty notable success. Yes, it was (and remains) expensive and yes those plants are now failing often, remaining expensive ober their whole lifetime. But it worked and France could afford it.

I'd argue many other countries could afford it as well. The German electricity mix is a lot dirtier by comparison.