Do they do anything different with their plant design? Or is it just standard biz as usual in their plants and protocols?
These days, the French operate three fairly similar pressurized water reactor designs, designed by Framatome but quite similar to the U.S. PWRs designed by Westinghouse. About 70 percent of U.S. plants are PWRs, which is a newer technology than boiling water reactors like Fukishima Daiichi. One advantage of PWRs is that the water that becomes steam for the turbine is separate from the water that circulates through the reactor, meaning that more of the plant is "clean." The French are also building at least one of the new third-generation plants that have more "inherently safe" features such as having the cooling water supply over the core so that it can be fed by gravity.
One advantage the French have is more economies of scale, since they've been able to build more-or-less cookie-cutter plants. Another advantage is cultural: the French are more inclined to trust technology experts and nuclear engineers and operators have a higher social standing.