French Welders Can Help Fight Putin’s Gas Crunch
Repairing the country’s aging nuclear plants is critical to getting through a bleak winter.
An electricity tower and power cables in a sunflower field in Avoine, France, on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2022.
Photographer: Nathan Laine/BloombergThe foot soldiers of Europe’s wartime economy are on the move. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week paid tribute to those coping “courageously” with the effects of Russian gas shutoffs, citing Italian industrial workers who are now starting their shifts before dawn, when energy is cheaper.
Yet if there’s one modern-day “Rosie the Riveter” who could end up striking a blow against Russian President Vladimir Putin this winter, it’s the industrial welders, pipe fitters and assorted metal bashers tasked with getting a series of France’s aging nuclear power plants back online by 2023.