Marcoule nuclear power plant is a 693 MW nuclear power station in Gard, France. It is operated by Commissariat À L'Energie Atomique [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 1.6 million homes (estimated). It ranks #34 of 2,216 France power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1956, it is around 70 years old — an older, legacy facility. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, nuclear supplies about 68.8% of France's electricity; the national grid averages 41 gCO₂/kWh (94.9% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_nuc_marcoule_franc.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and fuel fields on this page are source-record values from the upstream open dataset. They are useful for identification and ranking, but they have not been upgraded to a 2026 registry/GEM-location verified value.
capacity: GEM GNPT; fuel: GEM GNPT
At 693 MW, Marcoule nuclear power plant is below the median nuclear plant in France (3,122 MW). Technically it is described as gas-cooled reactor. Nuclear plants split uranium to raise steam with no direct CO₂; they run as steady baseload with very high capacity factors and the longest operating lifetimes of any thermal plant.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Commissariat À L'Energie Atomique [100%].
This nuclear plant uses heat from nuclear fission to raise steam for a turbine-generator. It sits in a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 44.1°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 25% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 40/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #22 largest nuclear power plant of 23 in France by capacity.
France has 23 nuclear power plants in this dataset, together about 75,473 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 44.1433, 4.7094 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Marcoule nuclear power plant is a 693 MW nuclear power plant in Gard, France, commissioned in 1956.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 1,561,032 homes (estimated).
Marcoule nuclear power plant is operated by Commissariat À L'Energie Atomique [100%].
