A new era for the atom? The international nuclear summit which begins on Thursday March 21 in Brussels marks its return to favor in the European Union, where it now benefits from more accommodating legislation as a lever for decarbonization alongside renewables. In charge: France. The nuclear subject has long been taboo in Brussels, victim of the hostility of Germany which had turned its back on the atom after the Fukushima accident. But it has established itself again for two years on the European agenda. “We are seeing a growing awareness of its essential nature to confront certain urgent global challenges” such as global warming, notes Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), praising “clean and reliable” electricity. “.
The first summit organized by his institution to promote the atom brought together in the Belgian capital around fifty countries, including China and the United States, and 25 leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron who worked for this comeback. The change of gear dates back to the end of 2021: under pressure, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recognizes that the EU “needs” nuclear power “as a stable energy source”, before the European executive does not classify it in its list (“taxonomy”) of sustainable investments.
A shift which can be explained by a favorable context. Nuclear power, which allows us to free ourselves from Russian gas, benefits from the break with Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. So France is no longer hiding with the launch, in early 2023, of an “alliance European Nuclear Union” bringing together a dozen member states: Bulgaria, Poland, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic… Several victories followed: in June, Paris obtained an exemption in the legislation setting renewable energy targets, for take into account hydrogen produced from nuclear electricity.
A total of thirteen EU member states produced nuclear energy in 2022, with France, Spain and Sweden taking the top three positions. Just behind, we find Belgium. Some countries lagging behind on the nuclear aspect have accelerated the pace: in 2022, production in the Netherlands increased by 19.8%, that of the Czech Republic by 19.1%, that of Hungary by 17. 5% and that of Finland 10.6%. And the declarations of love for the atom continue: on December 19, 2023, France and Sweden signed a letter of intent in Brussels on nuclear cooperation. “Sweden is making a comeback as a nuclear nation,” said Ebba Busch, Sweden’s deputy prime minister. The country will launch the construction of two reactors to which ten additional reactors will be added by 2045.
An “industrial alliance”
States and MEPs agreed in mid-December on public aid for investments in existing nuclear power plants, then in mid-February to include the entire nuclear sector in legislation granting regulatory relief to “zero emission” technologies. Finally, Brussels included the atom in its proposals for a 2040 climate objective, and launched an “industrial alliance” at the beginning of February for future small modular reactors (SMR). “Over the last 18 months, a certain number of States have expressed themselves more openly, working together to have a framework that suits them,” observed Massimo Garribba, from the Directorate General Energy at the Commission, during a conference on Monday 18 March.
From now on, for the “Nuclear Alliance”, “this momentum must be converted into a global and favorable framework”, particularly in terms of financing by the European Investment Bank (EIB), by putting the atom on par with the renewables “without any form of discrimination” to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050. Translation: the EIB is being asked to release funds for nuclear power. If the Bank of Twenty-Seven has injected money into projects around “clean energy”, it has not given a cent to initiatives linked to nuclear power plants for around thirty years. However, for this to change, the agreement of the European Commission would be required.
Note that the principle of “technological neutrality” fuels a dispute between Brussels and Paris: France did not achieve the European renewables objectives in 2020 and refuses to regularize its situation. “France is not going to pay penalties: these objectives of having so many wind turbine masts here, so many photovoltaic panels there, this is the Europe we no longer want,” protested at the beginning of March the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, recalling the good French carbon footprint thanks to nuclear power.
Same tensions regarding the energy plan prepared by Paris without setting renewables targets: Brussels demands details by June, estimating that France “should raise its ambitions to at least 44% renewables” in 2030, compared to 20% currently .
The “SMR”, Macron’s miracle solution
“On nuclear power, for the moment I see more plans on paper than investments,” German Minister Sven Giegold said ironically at the beginning of March, praising the “competitiveness” and immediate availability of renewables. “The SMR will be ready by 2035, the new generation EPR reactors around 2040: it is far away, but it is now that we must draw up the framework, the financing plans” which promise to be colossal, retorts Christophe Grudler, MEP from the Renew group (centrists and liberals). But be careful, these SMRs dear to Macron are not unanimous. According to the report by an engineer and consultant Antoine Bonduelle from the E & E office (studies, expertise and research in climate-energy), which was obtained Releasethey “would not stand up to analysis in terms of costs, risks and technologies”.
Despite the Fukushima disaster in 2011 or the fear of an accident at the Zaporizhia power plant in Ukraine, the summit illustrates the desire of the participating countries to relaunch civil nuclear power, presented as one of the solutions for the energy transition. With 100 reactors in service in 12 states, nuclear power produces a quarter of the EU’s electricity, almost half of its carbon-free electricity. Around sixty new reactors are planned or envisaged, a third of which are in Poland. For its part, France has fifty-six reactors and must cover a cost of 67.4 billion euros for six new ones, according to the newspaper The echoes. Still money to find.