French president Emmanuel Macron’s “historic” announcement that he wants to build up to 14 new nuclear power plants will provide long-term industrial growth and trigger innovation and employment across the nuclear energy sector, the industry’s union Gifen said.

According to Gifen, Mr Macron’s plans will mobilise more than 30,000 engineers, technicians and workers during construction, of which more than 20,000 will work directly on construction sites. There will be more than 10,000 jobs throughout the operation phase of new units until the beginning of the next century.

“These announcements are historic,” said Gifen president Xavier Ursat. “The launch of this programme will make it possible to trigger long-term economic growth while stimulating innovation and employment. It is, for our sector, an exhilarating programme and gives us great responsibility for the years to come.”