Nuclear: Breton, EU will have to invest 500 billion euros by 2050

(ANSA) - PARIS, 09 JAN - The new generation of European nuclear power plants will require the European Union to invest "500 billion euros, between now and 2050", according to estimates by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, ThierryBreton.

    "Only the nuclear plants already in operation require 50 billion euros of investments until 2030. Those of new generation of 500 billion", Breton told the French Sunday Journal du Dimanche, adding that the European plan to label the energy produced as "green" from nuclear power stations such as that of gas in the new energy taxonomy constitutes a fundamental step to attract investments and is capable of launching "an industrial revolution of unprecedented magnitude".

    The European Commission's proposal envisages "a role for natural gas and nuclear power as means to facilitate the transition towards an energy future based mainly on renewable sources", and also provides for the development of measures for the management and disposal of radioactive waste.

    The French European Commissioner also recalls that consultations are underway with the Member States, because in many there is internal disagreement on the future of nuclear power, with countries such as France leading the favorable front and Germany and Australia in the opposite committed to turning off existing ones).

    Breton estimates that European nuclear dependence will drop from the current 26% to 15% by 2050.

(HANDLE).