France's energy production is not as clean as one may think. There is considerable damage to the environment in countries in Africa, where Uranium is mined/extracted. Probably still better than lots of CO2 output, but not actually clean.
Most uranium comes from Kazakhstan. Australia and Canada are also major producers. Namibia produces some, but far from the majority. This isn't exactly a "western countries dumping environmental problems in Africa" story.
The uranium used in France comes in part from Niger. The mines in Niger are operated by Orano, a mining company whose main shareholder is also France. There have been controversies about France using foreign aid to pressure the Niger government for more favorable mining contracts.
In Australia at least most of it comes from a copper mine that happens to intersect a uranium vein, so as long as the demand for copper exists its extraction is essentially environmentally free
I don't think it's particularly bad per GWh of energy produced. You just don't need that much uranium. Compare coal (still being actively mined and burned for energy!), natural gas, exotics for batteries/solar.
(Good luck finding one that supports your position).
FWIW: yes, mining is bad. But uranium is unbelievably energy-dense and the amounts are ridiculously small compared to any other source of energy. All things considered, nuclear causes fewer emissions per MWh than most solar panels (which are not radioactive but still need heaps of metals and semiconductors). Also, there is no contest with coal, oil, and gas, which is the thing that is actually used when you don’t have nuclear energy available.
Here you go. But really, if you had done a simple search of something like "france uranium africa" you would likely have found this yourself. If you only ever search for things supporting your position, but not the opposite position, you are prone to being in a bubble, never seeing contradicting information.
No energy production is clean. Actually, I'd be curious to compare the damage to the environment caused by uranium extraction vs producing batteries and solar panels.
Nuclear and solar panels are about the same. Better than wind and hydro. But all of these are very similar, and are miles better than fossil fuels. It’s difficult to have accurate projections for batteries because the technology that can be used at these scales is not clear (though he vast majority of them need cobalt, which is a huge issue on several levels).
