After an initial proposal (1965) of a Nuclear Power Plant in the region was abandoned due to falling oil prices and a conflict between the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and Électricité de France (EdF) in 1969. In 1973 EdF announced a new nuclear project and the French Ministry for Quality of Life confirmed Golfech as the location for the plant in 1974. In 1975, a referendum organized by the cantons of Valence-d'Agen and Auvillar resulted in 83% of vote against the establishment of the Golfech power station. In April 1978, the Midi-Pyrénées regional council unanimously voted against the establishment of the Golfech power plant. Despite widespread protest, in December 1978, EDF specified that Golfech was the site definitively chosen for the Midi-Pyrénées region and that it would include 4 pressurized water reactors of 1,300 MW. 

 In June 1979, the Socialist Party (PS) of Lot-et-Garonne joined its comrades in the Tarn-et-Garonne PS to say no to the Golfech power station, together with other leftist parties, trade unions and the Human Rights League, among others. On June 17, 1979, 5,000 walkers, with elected politicians marching at the head, went to the site of the future power plant to release balloons, demonstrating the possible spread of a radioactive cloud as far asl Spain. In September 1980, 10,000 people went to the project site on the initiative of the Golfech Antinuclear Committee (CAN).

In February 1981, Jean Glavany (PS) assured by a letter to the CAN of Golfech that the site would not be opened without a vast debate on the use of nuclear power. CAN Golfech then calls to vote François Mitterrand in the presidential election of 1981. After his election, the abandonment of the Plogoff nuclear project is announced, as well as the shutdown of 14 open sites. Golfech is only simply temporarily suspended by the new government, despite this, EDF's work continues on the site. Glavany was head of cabinet of President Mitterrand in 1981, he was later Minister of Africulture.

 In October 1981, 4,000 people walk on the site under construction. Opposition with the police leads to violent clashes. In November, a new march brought together from 4 to 7,000 people and gave rise to long and violent clashes with the police and a dozen pronuclearers.

After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the anti-nuclear movement woke up. The new Stop Golfech coordination, created on the occasion of the occupation of an air-cooling tower of the plant by 5 activists for 5 days in 1989, attempts to block the start-up of the plant.

 Despite all protest two reactors (1310 MW each) went online in 1990 and 1993 respectively. In 1996, three anti-nuclear activists entered the power station again by swimming in the Garonne. They then climbed one of the two cooling towers, up to 178.5 meters in height. One of them will spend three nights on this tower.

 In the particular case where a nuclear accident occurs, Golfech has a special intervention plan (PPI), which provides for evacuation within a perimeter of 10 km, while evacuation over a perimeter of 20 km has found to be insufficient during the Fukushima accident (Ladepeche, 2011). In the event of a nuclear accident where the plant releases a radioactive cloud into the atmosphere, the impacted areas would depend on wind and rain. In the most likely event the cloud would reach Toulouse in more than three hours. However, the city of Toulouse could not be evacuated, on the one hand because of the traffic jams which frequently block traffic there, and on the other hand because of the panic probably generated by the evacuation of a big city (Ladepeche, 2002).

 In the 30 years of operation of Golfech, there had been various accidents and incidents (e.g. Sortirdunucleaire, 2020; Stopgolfech, 2020). In January 2010, 450 liters of radioactive contaminated water was spilled out of suitable retention. The “Sortir du nuclear” network, Friends of the Earth, France nature environment (FNE) and local associations filed a complaint against EDF and the management of the power station for not having notified the safety authority in time. The “Sortir du Nucleair” Network also accuses the plant of exceeding legal rejection standards. The Network has previously detected the presence of tritium in the Garonne algae, which is attributed to leakage from the Golfech power station. Finally, the discharges from Golfech power station into the Garonne river and used for irrigation and tap water can in particular contain iodine 131 (289 becquerels / liter in 2003).

The Golfech Nuclear Power Plant is located in the commune of Golfech (Tarn-et-Garonne), on the border of Garonne between Agen (30 km downstream) and Toulouse (90 km upstream) on the Garonne River, from where it gets cooling water, it is approximately 40 km west of Montauban. From the planned four Pressurized water reactors (PWRs) two were constructed (1300 MWe each).

Construction: Fram (FRAMATOME)

Operating Company: Electricite de France (EdF)

Regulatory Authority: Autorité de Sureté Nucléaire (ASN)

Unit 1: Capacity (MWe) = 1310

Unit 2: Capacity (MWe) = 1310

Make and model Alstom

Nameplate capacity 2726 MW

Capacity factor 75.3%

Annual net output 17,992 GWh