The price of the atom. Planned to allow the old continent to respect carbon neutrality and thus reduce its participation in global warming, new generation European nuclear power plants will require “500 billion” of investment “by 2050”, according to Thierry Breton.
In an interview with the French weekly Le Journal du dimanche (JDD), the European Commissioner for the Internal Market gives an estimate of the cost of this aspect of the European energy transition and insists that the atom be recognized as “green” in the future European energy labeling.
“Existing nuclear power plants alone will require 50 billion euros of investment by 2030. And 500 billion by 2050 for new generation ones! “, He affirms, deeming” crucial “to give a green label to this type of energy, a position strongly defended by France, which has the largest nuclear park in Europe.
The green label, investment magnet
The challenge ? Obtain financing on favorable terms. European green labels, investment magnets, define the sectors deemed useful within the framework of the carbon neutrality objective that Europe has promised to achieve before 2050.
Until now concentrated on renewables, this European classification or “taxonomy” could evolve. On December 31, the European Commission unveiled a green labeling project for nuclear and gas power plants. Some countries consider that financing these installations contributes to the fight against climate change, as nuclear energy does not emit CO2.
For Thierry Breton, “including nuclear in the taxonomy is crucial to allow the sector to attract all the capital it will need”, the objective of European neutrality of carbon neutrality in 2050 involving colossal funding. “The ecological transition will lead to an industrial revolution on an unprecedented scale. As well as a race for capital between the various energy sources ”, he illustrates.
“Renewable energies alone, for example, will have to mobilize 65 billion euros in investments per year. And it will be necessary to add to this 45 billion annual investments to acquire additional network infrastructures, ”he estimated.
Pro and anti-nuclear
While 26% of the electricity produced in the EU today is of atomic origin, he estimates that “nuclear will represent at least 15% of the whole (of the energy mix) in 2050”. The subject is the subject of heated debates between the Twenty-Seven, a dozen countries – France in the lead – actively promoting nuclear power in the face of States very reluctant to the civilian atom, such as Germany or Austria. .
The Commission sent its draft text, debated for months and still provisional, to the Member States on December 31. The text sets conditions, in particular a time limit: for the construction of new nuclear power plants, projects must have obtained a building permit before 2045.