Brussels, 18/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Following an online Der Spiegel article about a leaked document referring to a new plan for developing sustainable energy technologies and Commission support for the expansion of nuclear power in the EU, the Greens/EFA group at the European Parliament has upped the ante and on Tuesday 17 May denounced the Commission's plans in this regard.
Rebecca Harms deplored the fact that "This paper again highlights the EU Commission's tendency to dress up the figures on nuclear power. The supporters of nuclear power want to do all within their means to secure massive financial support to keep the industry alive, despite the fact it is not able to stand on its own two feet. EU competition law and state aid rules should be set aside for nuclear power".
Ms Harms criticised the fact that the Commission had already suggest extending the reactors' life-cycle by up to 60 years and said that it was a "crazy idea" to promote decentralised mini nuclear reactors. She also criticised the support given to the European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) projects, which had so far proved to be failures. She added that "The cost explosions in the foreseen and underway projects in Olkiluoto, Flamanville and now Hinkley Point have underlined that EPR is unviable and have driven the French nuclear firm Areva to ruin".
She concluded that "The European Commission needs to finally give up on this failed and risky technology and instead put innovation and sustainability at the heart of the nascent European Energy Union. Majorly boosting energy efficiency and renewable energies, supported by urgently-needed research in energy storage, is the only path for tackling climate change and combining this with economic development, creating jobs across Europe."
The Greenpeace environmentalist NGO responded by saying that "The suggestion that public funds should be used to support nuclear research in Europe is a denial of reality: nuclear is a failed technology and represents a dangerous waste of time and money in the fight against climate change".
On Tuesday, the Commission tried to put things in perspective and provided assurances that the leaked document was simply a "discussion paper" to national experts on potential future research priority areas, which identifies nuclear energy as one of the potential research areas among ten. A Commission spokesperson explained "It is by no means a final document or commits the final position of the Commission. It will be discussed openly on the 24th and should lead to the adoption of a non-binding declaration of intent. It is a paper that helps the research policy programme of the Commission and member states and research institutes. The actual decision by member states on whether they choose or not nuclear energy as part of their energy makes is a purely national competence and nothing has been changed in that area". (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)