Germany may fund nuclear power for everyone but itself: Reports

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
26 Mar 2023 15:56

Berlin is prepared to subsidize nuclear power for everyone but itself.

Steam rises from the cooling tower of the nuclear power plant of Gundremmingen, Bavaria, Germany, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. (AP)

The European Union continues to move forward with its ambitious competitive "green industry" plans for the future, and it looks that Germany is prepared to subsidize nuclear power for everyone but itself, as per Sputnik.

Brussels has long bragged about its plans to have a "climate neutral" economy with net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by the year 2050. Nonetheless, there has been disagreement within the bloc over whether to fully or partially include nuclear power as part of the EU's decarbonization efforts.

The European Commission finally acknowledged that nuclear energy can, under some circumstances, be considered sustainable for the "green" camp of investments, on March 16, when it released its draft Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA).

The plan refers to "small modular reactors," sometimes known as SMRs, and "new technologies to create electricity from nuclear processes with low waste from the fuel cycle."

It is worth noting that the SMRs are modern nuclear reactors with a 300 MW(e) maximum power output per unit.

However, Germany is the EU member state making the largest contribution to the Next Generation EU fund after choosing to abandon nuclear power and gradually phasing it out in the wake of the Fukushima tragedy in Japan in 2011.

This has already stoked a debate within the German parliament. The fact that the German government allots funding for technology that it will not develop domestically angered a number of German politicians, and may stoke debates with France over what qualifies as green energy.

Although the European Commission lists nuclear as a technology that "will make a significant contribution to decarbonization," it was not included on the list of "strategic" technologies, which "will receive particular assistance and are subject to the 40% domestic production goal."

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said while addressing a recent EU summit that, "only the net-zero technologies that we deem strategic for the future – like solar panels, batteries, and electrolyzers, for example – have access to the full advantages and benefits," adding that "cutting-edge nuclear is in for specific fields, but not for all.”

Concurrently, the European Union provides funds for the development of green technologies and the construction of infrastructure through the Next Generation EU fund (NGEU).

France and Belgium, where new stations are currently being built, are the leading consumers of nuclear energy in the EU. France has pushed for nuclear energy to be listed among the green technologies because it reportedly derives around 70% of its electricity from nuclear power plants.