In the global race to decarbonize energy, nuclear energy is making a comeback after decades in which it seemed to disappear from public debate. A new international alliance at the UN Climate Conference is bringing the atom back to the center of the green transition to wean countries off fossil fuels by mid-century. New winds are blowing in nuclear energy in Europe; France aims to lead the energy and industrial revolution. Rome remains on the sidelines for now.
New nuclear international
It took 12 years for interest in atomic energy to resurface after the Fukushima disaster in March 2011. Even fainter is the memory of what happened at Chernobyl in 1986, in what was then Soviet Ukraine. The historical stage now appears to have arrived when leaders and public opinion of half the world, from Japan to Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy, reacted to the accident at the Japanese power plant by interrupting or severely limiting their own recovery programmes. latest: nuclear development. And so, at the international meeting being held in the United Arab Emirates, nuclear energy appears once again at the tables where we are discussing the decarbonization of the world economy.
An international front took shape in Dubai on Saturday, led by the United States, France and the United Kingdom, aiming to triple nuclear capacity globally by 2050. A joint declaration signed by 22 countries (including 11 EU member states, Ukraine, the UAE, its hosts and Japan itself) aims to achieve net-zero global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and meet the 1.5 degree target envisaged in the Paris agreements 8 years ago. It recognizes the key role of atomic energy in sustaining The document directly calls on international financial institutions to encourage the inclusion of nuclear-related projects in so-called green finance policies, as in the classification sought by the von der Leyen Commission in Europe. Nuclear energy is clean energy and will prove essential to achieving “net zero” targets by mid-century: this is essentially the leitmotif of those supporting this initiative, as the International Nuclear Energy Agency reports.’ strength.
European alliance (and French sponsor)
At the forefront of this war, we see French President Emmanuel Macron, who has long been the flagbearer of the new wave of nuclear energy in Europe. In fact, the Elysée’s president’s efforts have always moved in this direction: it was Paris itself that last year insisted that Berlaymont include the atom in the EU’s list of sustainable resources. And it’s no secret that the Transalpine leader aims to make France (which has by far the largest atomic capacity of the Twenty-Seven) the vanguard of a continental nuclear rebirth after Germany embarked on a path of shutting down power plants (and the simultaneous reopening of coal mines, to the dismay of environmentalists to lower it). Last November 28, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton announced in Paris the emergence of a new “European alliance” for nuclear energy, which is scheduled to start in the first months of next year.
The motto of this new phase, as well as the axis around which the new continental industrial alliance will revolve, is the abbreviation “Smr” (from the British small modular reactors), which designates small 300 mega Watt reactors designed to be modular. It is changeable and “agile”. The SMR alliance will bring together existing industrial players, research organisations, state administrations, public regulators and non-governmental organizations under one roof to accelerate the progress of Europe’s nuclear sector. EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson has already estimated that around 350-450 billion euros of investment will be needed to modernize the existing nuclear park and equip Europe with a sufficient number of these mini reactors. According to the commissioner, the debate on the issue has changed compared to the past and is divided into three main points: security of energy supply, achievement of climate targets and Europe’s strategic autonomy to be achieved through newfound technological leadership.
The hand of Paris is once again noticeable behind this industrial strategy, which has been putting pressure on the community administration for more than a year and acting as a strong supporter of the alliance. France currently produces about 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy. But he will make it Monsieur President To bring home the desired results? Besides technical difficulties (including the cost and duration of construction of the plants), Macron’s project is also subject to more political unknowns: The support of the European Parliament will be required for the project to be successful, but this is not the case at all. How obvious. If the Strasbourg Assembly blocks this, it will actually become much more difficult for the Commission to advance the initiative, and we will talk about it again when the new college takes office in the autumn of 2024.
Rome takes time
Currently, our country is watching these developments without touching the ball. After all, Italians said “No” to nuclear energy twice, in 1987 and 2011, upon the emotional wave created by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters. But thanks to the above-mentioned European events, the debate has been reignited for some time now and was one of the themes of last year’s election campaign. It is certainly not new that the centre-right is in favor of restarting nuclear policy in Italy (it was Berlusconi himself who tried this again 12 years ago). Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from Dubai said “the biggest challenge will be nuclear fusion and I believe that Italy must have the ability to think big”, but did not sign the joint declaration that would include Rome in this international process.
Recently, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini, with the support of the Northern League governor Attilio Fontana, provocatively revived the idea of establishing a power plant in Milan by 2032. While the center-left opposition, from the Democratic Party to the Greens, criticized the deputy prime minister’s departure from office, an opening came from Action leader Carlo Calenda, who thinks Italy needs a nuclear strategy if it wants to get rid of fossil fuels. fuels. For this reason, the Italy match has been postponed for now.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
