Recently, the European Commission has issued a draft proposal to label nuclear energy, along with natural gas, as "green" sources eligible for investment under rules for promoting a carbon-neutral future. The intention behind passing this regulation is to prevent “greenwashing”, consequently making climate-friendly investments more attractive to private capital firms. This proposal was signed by France, which gets 70% of its power from nuclear sources, along with nine other EU member states including Poland and the Czech Republic. Conversely, this proposal has sparked much conflict between France and Germany, who largely opposed this move amidst their decisions to shut all of its nuclear plants as part of its pledge to eliminate all nuclear power by 2022.
This stark opposition is spearheaded by Steffi Lemke, German environment minister who sharply criticized the proposal amidst concerns that nuclear energy can lead to environmental disasters and leave behind large quantities of spent fuel, which might pose significant difficulties in terms of efficient disposal that does not leave any adverse environmental effects behind.Whilst nuclear power plants do not directly emit carbon dioxide during operation,high amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the environment during the process of mining uranium, a vital source of fuel for nuclear energy. Furthermore, Germany’s concerns do not come unwarranted, given that the German government is looking to avoid any future energy disasters such as those at Fukushima and Chernobyl.
However, in efforts to ease these concerns, a central component of the EU proposal since passed includes a limit on the consideration of such nuclear power plants meeting the “green” specifications until 2045, after which they would undergo safety upgrades to ensure protection standards continue to be met. Furthermore, there have been developments in cutting edge nuclear disposal techniques, which should alleviate Germany’s concerns. These innovations include highly efficient fast breeder reactors that offer solutions for waste management as they are designed to maximize the usage of spent nuclear waste as fuel, which still has a 95% potential to generate electricity. Thus, the effectiveness of this proposal will depend on strict regulations and monitoring on nuclear plants and how they dispose of their waste, in relation to minimizing its environmental impact.
Jie Yu Timothy Ng
References
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Cohen, A. (2022, January 5). Germany and France clash over EU's new "green" classifications for Nuclear Energy and Natural Gas. Forbes. Retrieved January 20, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2022/01/04/germany-and-france-clash-over-eus-new-green-classifications-for-nuclear-energy-and-natural-gas/?sh=7a291c0e76b7
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