French lawmakers are proposing a legislation that would let the state utility \u00c9lectricit\u00e9 de France (EDF) divert excess power from its nuclear fleet into Bitcoin mining, French daily Le Monde reported. <\/p>\n
The early-stage bill envisions installing mining hardware directly at nuclear sites so that electricity that would otherwise be wasted can be converted into digital assets.<\/p>\n
France already generates more nuclear power than any other country in the European Union, about 338,202 gigawatt-hours in 2023<\/a>, more than half the bloc\u2019s output, according to Eurostat.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet Eurostat also notes that more than two-thirds of the heat created by nuclear fission is lost before it reaches the grid. Backers say plants could capture value without increasing overall demand on France\u2019s power system by running energy-hungry bitcoin mining computers<\/a> on that unused capacity.<\/p>\n Nuclear surplus meets digital gold<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a secure and extremely profitable solution,\u201d said MP Aur\u00e9lien Lopez-Liguori, one of the bill\u2019s architects. The proposal follows a narrower amendment rejected in June but would have required the government to study crypto mining\u2019s place in the national energy mix.\u00a0<\/p>\n CoinDesk<\/a> reports similar instances. Pakistan recently earmarked 2,000 megawatts of underused coal-plant capacity for Bitcoin mining and artificial-intelligence data centers. Stable-coin issuer Tether has begun testing mining projects that run on surplus renewable power from South American agribusiness firm Adecoagro, in which it holds a 70 percent stake, CoinDesk reported.<\/p>\n Political U-turn on crypto<\/p>\n The push comes from the right-wing Rassemblement National (RN) party, marking a sharp reversal from party leader Marine Le Pen\u2019s 2016 call to ban cryptocurrencies<\/a> outright. At the time, Le Pen warned that replacing cash with digital money would cause citizens to \u201close ownership\u201d of their wealth and serve \u201cthe global banking system,\u201d according to a press release cited by Cointelegraph<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite that history, RN has become the most active force in French<\/a> crypto legislation, attracting industry advocates who see the party as business-friendly, Le Monde noted. Meanwhile, left-leaning blocs continue to criticize mining for its environmental footprint and use in illicit finance.<\/p>\n Power costs and environmental stakes<\/p>\n Those environmental concerns are rooted in Bitcoin\u2019s voracious appetite for electricity. Recent studies estimate<\/a> the network\u2019s annual consumption between 138 TWh and 173 TWh in 2025, roughly the same as Poland or Argentina and about 0.5 to 0.7 percent of global power use.\u00a0<\/p>\n On a per-transaction basis, each on-chain Bitcoin transfer burns roughly 1,100 kWh to 1,335 kWh, the amount an average U.S. home uses in 39-45 days. Even conservative estimates of 707 kWh per transaction equal nearly a month of household consumption.<\/p>\n