As for the French, they built their CVN with the same reactors used by their subs. This was not ideal, and I seem to recall they had a fair amount of trouble with their powerplants. However, it did mean that more space could be devoted to fuel and weapons for their air group, and it also kept their skilled nuclear-tradespeople usefully employed. Another possible advantage was that it provided a pool of trained operators who could transition into the submarine arm if necessary - it's hard to make sure you have enough nuclear engineers, given military life and pay. And, of course, it meant that their carriers had theoretically unlimited range at full speed.
France (specially at this point in time) has a very strong civilian nuclear-plant service. They won't go short on people for this job anytime soon...