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Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Israeli occupation forces blew up Noura Al-Kaabi Hospital, designated for kidney dialysis patients, in the northern Gaza Strip
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Israeli drone targets a car on the Ayta al-Shaab-Debel road in southern Lebanon
Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson Yahya Saree: The remaining airlines that have not yet complied with the ban are urged to take this into serious consideration to ensure the safety of their aircraft and passengers
Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson Yahya Saree: The YAF, after successfully imposing a partial ban on air traffic at Lydd Airport, are now working to impose a full ban on air traffic at the aforementioned airport in the coming period
Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson Yahya Saree: YAF's UAV Unit carried out three military operations targeting three vital Israeli sites in the occupied Palestinian areas of Yafa, Isdud, and Umm al-Rashrash, using three drones
Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson Yahya Saree: The operation successfully achieved its objective, causing millions of Zionist settlers to flee to shelters and bringing airport operations to a halt
Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson Yahya Saree: YAF targeted Lydd Airport in the occupied Yafa area (Tel Aviv) with a hypersonic ballistic missile
Israeli media: Ben Gurion Airport airspace sut down following missile launch from Yemen
Israeli media: Air raid sirens sound in the central region and Hashfala following the detection of a missile launch from Yemen
SDF announces the killing of three of its members as a result of ISIS cells detonating a landmine targeting a vehicle of a security patrol on the Hasaka-Raqqa road

A messy nuclear slowdown for Europe

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: Agencies
  • 22 Jan 2022 14:03
3 Min Read

Germany has almost finished phasing out nuclear plants and aging infrastructure is leading neighbors down the same path, while France and some critics argue this will harm green energy goals.

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  • Will Europe be able to meet a net-zero policy by 2050?
    Will Europe be able to meet a net-zero policy by 2050?

Germany has shut down three of its six remaining nuclear power plants On December 31 and plans to shut down the other three by the end of 2022 as well. In 2002, Germany relied on nuclear power for nearly 30% of its electricity. Within a year, that percentage will be zero. 

Belgium is also another country that is decreasing its reliance on nuclear energy, with Belgium committing to closing down its seven remaining nuclear power plants by 2025. Switzerland has also gone down the same road after a 2017 referendum that subsidized renewable energy.

France however, has gone down another path, as nearly 70% of electricity in the country is generated by nuclear power and more power plants are expected to be built in the future. Nuclear power proponents argue that it is one of the safest and lowest-carbon forms of electricity generation there is, and that is why France has some of the lowest-carbon electricity anywhere in Europe.

Nuclear skeptics, on the other hand, say nuclear’s low-carbon credentials are undercut by its high costs and the long timelines involved in building new plants, as well as long-standing public concerns about safety and radioactive waste.

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According to a report by Wired, in order to meet its target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050, Europe has to deliver a large reduction of those emissions by 2030. That is why critics of Germany’s nuclear plan have said phasing out nuclear power plants while still using coal-fired power plants is contradictory.

Is nuclear power the answer?

On the other hand, nuclear power in France is also unreliable. At the end of 2021, 17 of France’s 56 nuclear reactors were paused because of planned maintenance or technical issues, which forces France to buy electricity from its neighbors, even though it is usually a net exporter of electricity. Aging plants are also a problem for the UK, as not enough new nuclear reactors are being constructed to fill the gaps between the decommissioning of old ones and the need for new ones.

The UK will retire six of its nuclear reactors by 2030, but it only has one power plant currently under construction: a two-reactor facility being built in Somerset. The lengthy time scales mean that building nuclear reactors is not the best way for Europe to rapidly decarbonize.

The French government is hoping a new kind of reactor could provide a boost for its nuclear efforts. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a €30 billion ($35 billion) investment plan that includes funding for small modular reactors. These are lower-capacity plants that would theoretically be faster and cheaper to build and could be placed in areas that are unsuitable for large plants.

The UK government has also put £210 million ($286 million) behind the development of small modular reactors, but so far the only such reactors to have been connected to a grid anywhere in the world are two that make up a floating power plant docked in Pevek harbor, in the remote northeast of Russia.

  • Germany
  • France
  • Nuclear Energy
  • carbon emissions
  • Carbon Emissions Reduction
  • Europe

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