The European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, praised the merits of nuclear power to facilitate the deployment of a “clean” hydrogen industry in Europe, during a European Commission session, on Tuesday 27 July, on the Geopolitics of Technology (‘Quo Vadis Europa’).
“We have a unique opportunity to shape the future of the hydrogen economy. But to do this, we also need to make the best use of existing decarbonised energy”, said Mr Breton, all the while making it clear that he was referring to nuclear energy.
And he added: “We should use [...] existing nuclear reactors exclusively to run electrolysers and thus produce clean hydrogen - of course, in compliance with all safety standards”.
Describing nuclear power as “transitional energy [...] available, abundant and cheap”, the Frenchman said he felt that doing so would allow a new sector to emerge “while waiting for sufficient renewable energy to become available”.
Nuclear energy is particularly important in some Member States, notably France, and is currently the subject of intense debate as to whether it should be included in the EU taxonomy (see EUROPE 12764/12, 12761/3).
See Thierry Breton’s speech: https://bit.ly/3zM0EXi (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)