https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2023/08/04/h...
( Or, if you prefer, the Nuclear Energy "Red Book":
https://www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_79960/uranium-2022-resource...
In France, although no domestic uranium exploration and mine development activities have been carried out since 1999, majority government-owned Orano (formerly Areva) and its subsidiaries remain active abroad.
As of 2020, Orano S.A. has been working outside France, focusing on discovery of exploitable resources in Canada, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Namibia and Niger. In Canada, Kazakhstan and Niger, Orano is also involved in uranium mining operations.
In addition, as a non-operator, Orano holds shares in several mining operations and research projects in different countries. In 2020, Orano started exploration in Uzbekistan.
Total nondomestic exploration expenditures remained relatively steady from 2017 to 2018 at about USD 30 million per year, before declining by 17% to around USD 25 million in 2019 and 2020.
)Nuclear might have been an option fifty years ago, but now it's too late to start, and we should focus on storage and renewables instead, if you ask me.
[edit]: fixed a typo
It seems rather coincidental to me that one of the countries where France has military presence happens to be a minor uranium producer (we're talking about Niger here I assume).
France has military presence in many more countries, and Niger is (or was, since there was a coup there recently) only a supplier for 1/5th of France's supply, and easy replaced with other sources. None of the other suppliers have French military bases.
Uranium is also very easy to stockpile since it takes little space, which makes it much easier to switch suppliers if needed.
Beyond the mere Uranium, power plants need specific fuel rods, and afaik only Russia is currently capable of manufacturing the fuel rods for the remaining old soviet bloc power plants in Eastern Europe.
French power plants don't need to worry much about African politics, at worst they'll have pay Canada or Kazakstan a little extra for short notice delivery. And even then, Uranium is a small part of the overall cost of nuclear energy.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_uranium_p...