But that was in the good old days when the country could - and knew how to - do industrial policy, and could fund nuclear power plants using sovereign discount rates (5-8% over 30-40 years) rather than private investor discount rates (10-15% over 15-20 years).

Welcome to the wonderful world of not having a sovereign currency.  This will ultimately be the Achilles's heel of the EU: sovereigns without sovereign currencies, and a sovereign currency without a sovereign.