Macron’s nuclear power plan hits trouble


In a POLITICO interview, Luxembourg’s leader Xavier Bettel slams French push to include nuclear energy in EU’s green tech plan.

Macron's government has been lobbying Brussels to include nuclear energy in the EU's Net Zero Industry Act | Ludovic MArin/AFP via Getty Images

BY SUZANNE LYNCH AND JAKOB HANKE VELA
MARCH 22, 2023 8:19 PM CET

French President Emmanuel Macron is facing an uphill battle to persuade EU leaders to designate nuclear energy as a key green technology of the future, after one of his allies blasted his plan on the eve of a summit in Brussels.

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel told POLITICO in an interview that while it is up to individual countries to choose their own energy mix, nuclear power must not benefit from an official “European label" that would give the vital French industry a boost.

Bettel's criticism risks reinforcing divisions between Macron and his fellow leaders as they meet in Brussels to discuss the green tech plans at the European Council summit starting Thursday.

“Nuclear is neither sustainable, nor safe, nor fast,” Bettel said in an interview. “Some people think they are selling nuclear power as the answer to everything,” he continued, but pointed out that it can take at least 10 years for a plant to be operational.

“Secondly, we have had incidents at the international level which are worrying and which have had catastrophic repercussions for many other countries. And thirdly, we still have a problem with nuclear waste. We still don't know how to deal with it, so we can't say that it is safe and sustainable.”

France's energy diet is dominated by nuclear power and Macron's government has been lobbying Brussels to include nuclear energy in the EU's Net Zero Industry Act — a package of plans unveiled last week by the European Commission.

The proposals in the act would allow “strategic net-zero” projects to qualify for a fast-track permitting process and smoother access to funding, part of the effort by Brussels to jump-start the transition away from fossil fuels to greener forms of energy.

Bettel said it's up to each national government to decide its own energy mix, but argued that nuclear power should not be seen as good for the environment. “Everyone can do what they want," he said. "But for me, the European label on nuclear energy — it would be in fact wrong to call it a green energy, or safe, or renewable.”

As POLITICO previously reported, in recent days France has not only lobbied to include nuclear energy in the EU’s Net Zero Industry Act, but it is also making a renewed push to give nuclear-based hydrogen a bigger role in meeting EU renewable energy goals.

Several diplomats said they expect the issue of nuclear to be discussed by leaders during Thursday and Friday's summit. In particular, France — as well as countries like the Czech Republic — have been pushing for the phrase “technological neutrality” to be included in the language of the summit conclusions, which will be signed off on by leaders in Brussels. That would represent an oblique acknowledgment that all forms of energy, including nuclear, could form part of the EU's green tech plan.

France steps up push for nuclear-based fuels in EU renewables law

By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS, March 21 (Reuters) -France is planning a renewed push for recognition of nuclear-derived fuels in European Union renewable energy targets, setting up a potential clash between countries seeking to approve the goals this month.

Negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament are preparing for March 29 final negotiations to agree more ambitious EU targets to expand renewable energy this decade.

The attempt to slash Europe's contribution to climate change and help countries end dependency on Russian gas have been deadlocked, however, by a dispute over whether fuels produced using nuclear power should be included in the targets, with France now poised to present a fresh proposal on the matter.

France wants to open up the law to recognise "low-carbon hydrogen" - the term used to describe hydrogen produced from nuclear energy - and has been backed by countries including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Germany, Spain and Denmark, meanwhile, are among the countries opposed to such a move. They say nuclear energy does not belong in renewables targets and warn that this would undermine the massive expansion of renewable energy Europe needs to hit climate goals and replace Russian gas.

With countries at odds, some EU diplomats are sceptical a deal will be reached this month - potentially delaying policy viewed as key to the EU's goals on climate change.

In its latest draft proposal, France suggests tweaks to targets being negotiated, including an aim for 42% of the hydrogen used in industry to be produced from renewable sources by 2030.

The proposal, seen by Reuters, would exclude most low-carbon hydrogen from the baseline used to calculate the target - effectively shrinking the volume of renewable fuels needed to hit the 42% goal.

France says the aim is to ensure rapid replacement of fossil fuel-based hydrogen by hydrogen that no longer contributes to climate change, be it produced with renewable energy or from nuclear power.

Seven countries have rejected proposals that would allow low-carbon fuels to count towards the targets, which they said would use the renewable energy law to promote non-renewable energy sources.