EU Countries Add Nuclear Power To ‘Strategic’ Net-Zero Technologies

Written by Paul Messad on December 14, 2023. Posted in Current News

Following in the footsteps of the European Parliament last month, EU member states in the Council have also included nuclear energy alongside ‘renewables’ among the technologies promoted by the EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA)

In mid-March, the European Commission presented its proposal for a Net Zero Industry Act, aiming to boost the EU’s domestic capacity to manufacture the technologies considered vital to reach ‘climate neutrality’ by 2050.

Nuclear power was listed among them but was not initially labeled as “strategic” to achieving ‘climate neutrality’ in the same way as, for example, renewable energies.

EU ministers rectified this on Thursday (7 December) and added nuclear power to the list of “strategic” technologies as part of their “general approach” to the NZIA – despite opposition from Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg.

As a result, nuclear power will benefit from streamlined licensing procedures: a one-stop shop in each EU country and full digitization of procedures to ensure that authorizations can be obtained within nine to 12 months.

“This is a positive and effective text,” French Industry Minister Roland Lescure said at the opening of the Council meeting in Brussels. “France was strongly in favor of including nuclear power,” his office added.

France and eight other EU countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia – submitted a joint declaration before the meeting reiterating the importance of supporting nuclear power and its financing at the EU level.

On the German side, the pill is harder to swallow…

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