The United States has one sort of cheese but 366 designs of nuclear reactors; France has 366 sorts of cheese but just one design of reactor. So goes a favourite quip used by French officials to express their pride in the meticulous planning that has produced the world's foremost nuclear power programme, the source of 80 per cent of the country's electricity. But the coherence of the programme increasingly resembles a lump of gruyère.

The reason is that France has continued doggedly to pursue the plutonium cycle that has dominated nuclear thinking since the 1970s. But the dream of a generation of fast-breeder reactors that would burn plutonium and breed further fuel has evaporated in the face of economic and technical problems, while plutonium is increasingly recognized to be dangerous environmentally and for proliferation. The root cause of France's unreasoned passion for plutonium is that influential technocrats and lobbyists have been able to make decisions in a system that has effectively shielded them from direct public scrutiny and democratic control.

A shift in this balance of power is now being brought about by the Socialist government of Lionel Jospin elected last June, and the influence of its electoral allies the Greens. By deciding to unplug Superphénix, a FFr60 billion failed commercial prototype fast-breeder, it dealt a sharp blow to the nuclear lobby. Superphénix was symptomatic of the French disease whereby long-term strategies that are difficult to reverse once in place are decided upon prematurely without proper debate. Last week's decision by a large group of a new generation of politicians to challenge the goals of the national nuclear waste disposal programme (see page 322) marks a step towards recovery.

Their opposition to the current excessive emphasis on deep storage can only be described as good sense, as this emphasis is resulting in neglect of other research avenues that may be more promising in the long term. Prudence is all the more desirable given that the choices that will be made over the next few years will fix French nuclear waste policy for decades. Also needing scrutiny is the wisdom of using MOX (mixed uranium/plutonium oxide fuel) in reactors. In short, the National Assembly should convene a national debate on the entire nuclear power programme.