The Radiance of France: Nuclear Power and National Identity after World War II (review)

The Radiance of France: Nuclear Power and National Identity after World War II. By Gabrielle Hecht. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1998. Pp. xiv+453. $40.

Gabrielle Hecht's The Radiance of France is both a significant contribution to the history of technology and a remarkable book. Until now, the history of French nuclear power during the 1950s and 1960s has been regarded as almost impossible to recount because of the sensitive nature of the issues and the close control exerted over the official records by the political and administrative authorities. Although one could hear many stories about the development of French nuclear policy, no reliable history was available until publication of The Radiance of France. Hecht skillfully interweaves interviews and archival material, a methodology full of potential for the history of the recent past.

Hecht proposes the promising concept of a "technopolitical regime" to characterize "the tight relationship among institutions, the people who run them, their guiding myths and ideologies, the artifacts they produce, and the technopolitics they pursue." Although such a concept is clearly indebted to Michel Foucault's "discourse" as well as to Thomas P. Hughes's "technological style," it represents a valuable means of analyzing the interactions among technology, society, and politics. Far from remaining a mere abstraction, the concept of a technopolitical regime is mobilized to address the complex set of actions and reactions, conflicts and negotiations, that characterized the relationship of the two major institutions of the French nuclear sector: the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique, the agency responsible for the general scientific and military aspects of the nuclear program, and Électricité de France, the public utility responsible for the production, transmission, and distribution of electricity. (Hecht applies the same concept to examine the part played by labor unions.) In her analysis, Hecht moves from the ideological precepts of the actors to the actual design of such artifacts as nuclear reactors or control rooms.

At a time of dramatically diminishing French influence in the world, the nation's nuclear enterprise was intended as a means of regaining power and prestige, to replace the extensive colonial empire that was disappearing piece by piece--from Indochina to Algeria--with intensive technological development. Hence the "radiance" of France was a common concern among French technocrats. But Hecht probes beyond any apparent consensus on a general objective by showing that the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique and Électricité de France had divergent conceptions of radiance, conceptions rooted in contrasting technopolitical regimes. Whereas the commissariat was trying to promote a national nuclear industry based on a close partnership between the state and private contractors, Électricité de France sought to promote a nationalized strategy of energy production.

The most remarkable aspect of Hecht's book lies in her analysis of how the discourse blurred technology and politics. She shows, for instance, how advocates of the light-water system based their argument on the separation between an allegedly "pure" technology and contemporary political issues. Such a distancing was necessary in order to foster a French nuclear power based on American patents instead of on the gas-graphite design that had been originally promoted by the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique. The Radiance of France is also full of fascinating insights into popular representations of atomic power in France during the 1950s and 1960s.

Strangely enough, the only frustrating aspect of Hecht's book is its relatively abstract conception of politics. Politics seem to be a question of "regime," a systemic by-product rather than a matter of fundamental ethics. Hecht could perhaps have been more critical in her assessment of the French nuclear adventure, especially regarding the almost total absence of democratic control.

Antoine Picon

Dr. Picon is professor at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées and director of studies at the University of Paris I--Sorbonne. He has published extensively on the history of engineering, urban planning, and architecture.

Permission to...