ABSTRACT
Cap de la Hague is at the tip of the Cotentin Peninsula in the Manche department in Normandy, the point where northwestern continental Europe finally runs into the sea. This remote setting is the location for one of the largest nuclear complexes in the world, with its high level waste stores and two large reprocessing plants which separate uranium and plutonium from spent fuel to complete the French nuclear fuel cycle. Together with the nearby Arsenal at Cherbourg, where French nuclear submarines are constructed, and the two Flamanville nuclear power plants down the coast (one with two reactors opened in 1986, the other under construction since 2007 and still unfinished in 2016) this ‘nuclear peninsula’ directly provides around a fifth of the jobs in the northern Cotentin and supports the infrastructure and dependent activities for a much wider population. La Hague represents a commitment to nuclear energy and technology that is still at the heart of the French nuclear industry.
