Future prospects for nuclear power in France

•Applies a bottom-up energy system optimization model to define future energy choices.•Derive scenarios to explore different combination of nuclear policy and emission target up to 2050.•Underline the resulting challenges in term of power capacity renewal rate and flexibility. Taking different nuclear policy options from a French perspective, we look at the issues that we were able to pinpoint thanks to the TIMES-FR model. The technico-economic analysis supported by the TIMES-FR model brings robust lessons, whichever technological options are selected: •The cliff effect puts the French system “up against the wall”: sustained investments must be made to renew electricity production facilities coming to the end of their lives.•This situation opens up opportunities to all industrial channels, with the main challenge being to sustain an ambitious pace of constructing new capacities and answering specific questions for each of them, such as acceptability and reliability.•In parallel, the current paradigm of increasing electricity consumption is likely to be challenged over the coming decades if environmental issues are still part of public policy.•These factors make it possible to consider that the question of political options in terms of long-term energy cannot be restricted to a technological choice and must go beyond pro- or anti-nuclear lobbying. This contribution, which is mainly based on a technical thought process, should fit into the wider framework of a debate on society and behavior choices. The issue of the electricity user will be unavoidable.