Sommet à Bruxelles: retour du nucléaire dans l'UE

Buzz Plus

Un sommet international du nucléaire jeudi à Bruxelles consacre le retour en grâce de l'atome dans l'Union européenne, où il bénéficie désormais de législations plus accommodantes en tant que levier de décarbonation aux côtés des renouvelables, sous l'influence décisive de la France.  Le sujet nucléaire a longtemps été tabou à Bruxelles, victime de l'hostilité de l'Allemagne qui avait tourné le dos à l'atome après l'accident de Fukushima. - L'info en continu  https://buzzplus.fr/ Infos, news & actualités - L'information internationale en direct.

Transcript

00:00 An international nuclear summit on Thursday in Brussels is celebrating the return of the atom in the European Union,

00:05 where it now benefits from more accommodating legislation as a decarbonizing lever alongside renewables,

00:11 under the decisive influence of France.

00:13 The nuclear subject has long been taboo in Brussels,

00:16 victim of the hostility of Germany, which had turned its back on the atom after the Fukushima accident.

00:21 But it has been imposed again for two years in the European agenda.

00:25 "We see a growing awareness of its essential nature to face some urgent global challenges such as climate change,"

00:32 says Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IEA),

00:38 claiming that electricity is clean and reliable.

00:40 The first summit organized by its institution to promote the atom

00:44 gathered in the Belgian capital about fifty countries, including China and the United States,

00:48 and 25 leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron who worked to this return by force.

00:54 "For four years, we sowed seeds, it sprouted, we are starting to harvest,"

00:58 says European MEP Christophe Grudelet of the group Renew, centrist and liberal.

01:03 The turn goes back to the end of 2021, under pressure,

01:06 the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,

01:10 recognizes that the EU needs nuclear as a stable energy source,

01:14 before the European executive places it on its list of sustainable investments.

01:19 Nuclear, which allows it to break through Russian gas,

01:23 also benefits from the rupture with Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

01:27 Several victories follow, in June, Paris passed an exemption in the legislation

01:32 setting renewable energy objectives, to take hydrogen produced from nuclear electricity into account.

01:37 State and MEPs agreed in mid-December on public aid to investments in existing nuclear power plants,

01:44 then in mid-February to include the entire nuclear sector in a legislation

01:47 granting regulatory easements to zero-emission technologies.

01:50 Finally, Brussels included the atom in its climate objectives for 2040,

01:56 and launched an industrial balance in early February for future small modular SMR reactors.

02:01 Convert momentum.

02:03 In the last 18 months, a number of States have expressed themselves more openly,

02:08 working together to have a framework that suits them,

02:10 observed Massimo Gariba, from the General Energy Direction to the Commission,

02:15 at a conference on Monday.

02:17 "From now on, for the nuclear alliance, this momentum must be converted into a global and favourable framework,

02:23 notably in terms of financing by the European Investment Bank (EIB)

02:27 by equating the atom with renewables without any form of discrimination,

02:31 to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.

02:33 This principle of technological neutrality feeds a tension between Brussels and Paris,

02:39 France did not reach in 2020 the European objectives of renewables and refuses to regularise its situation.

02:45 France will not give up its penalties, its objectives of having so many windmills here,

02:50 so many photovoltaic panels there, it is Europe that we no longer want,

02:53 this was raised in early March by the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire,

02:56 recalling the good French carbon balance thanks to nuclear.

02:59 Theoretical.

03:01 Same tension regarding the energy plan prepared by Paris without setting any objectives for renewables,

03:06 Brussels requires clarifications by June,

03:09 estimating that France should meet its ambitions at least 44% of renewables by 2030,

03:14 against 20% currently.

03:16 "We cannot imagine mixing or replacing the targets of nuclear and renewables",

03:21 said the Spanish Minister Teresa Ribra in mid-December,

03:24 whose country is involved in the alliance of renewable amides with Austria,

03:27 Germany or Luxembourg.

03:29 "On nuclear, I see for their more on paper plans than investment",

03:34 said the German Minister Sven Gygold in early March,

03:37 boasting competitiveness and immediate availability of renewables.

03:41 "The PLUS SMR PLUS will be ready by 2035,

03:45 the EPR new generation reactors by 2040, it's far,

03:49 but now we have to draw the framework,

03:51 the financing plans and which are announcing colossal ",

03:53 said Christophe Grudelet.

03:54 With 100 reactors in service in 12 states,

03:58 nuclear produces a quarter of the electricity in the EU,

04:00 almost half of its decarbonated electricity.

04:04 About 60 new reactors are planned or envisaged,

04:07 of which a third in Poland.

Category

Transcript

Recommended