FACTBOX-Key facts on the French nuclear power sector

Aug 31 - France is betting on its three-decade old nuclear energy industry to lead the global nuclear power revival. Here are key facts on the French nuclear energy sector:

BRIEF HISTORY

* It kicked off in the 1960s when France commissioned 8 reactors at the sites of Chinon, Saint-Laurent, Brennilis, Chooz and Bugey. France decided to opt for large-scale nuclear power after the oil crisis of the 1970s.

* Nuclear energy gradually became the country's main electricity-generating source with an 80 percent share of its power mix in 2008 and 18 percent of its energy mix.

* State-owned utility EDF, which runs 58 reactors across France, is building a new-generation reactor (EPR) in the Northwestern site of Flamanville and plans to build one at Penly also in the Northwest, expected to start in 2017.

* The Fessenheim nuclear plant is France's oldest running one, with two reactors connected to the grid in 1977/78.

SAFETY CONCERNS

* In 2008, a series of incidents at the Tricastin nuclear site, Europe's largest, shook public confidence. They ranged from the contamination of 100 workers with low doses of radiation to a leak of non-enriched uranium at Areva's Socatri site and two fuel units which became snagged in a reactor when workers were attempting to remove them.

MAIN PLAYERS

* State-owned Areva builds nuclear reactors and manages the entire fuel cycle. It's the world's largest reactor builder.

* State-owned EDF, which manages the nuclear reactors connected to the power grid, is Europe's biggest power producer and the world's largest nuclear electricity operator.

* EDF has a workforce of 23,000 in the engineering and operating fields

* Some 20,000 subcontractors carry out 80 percent of the maintenance at EDF's reactors

* The atomic energy agency (CEA), which was created by General de Gaulle in 1945, carries out nuclear research in the energy, defence and health sectors.

* France's nuclear safety authority (ASN) carries out planned and unplanned checks on EDF's reactors and has the authority to withdraw operating licences in case of serious safety breaches.

* The institute for nuclear safety and defence against radiation (IRSN) carries out research on risks related to radioactivity.