Europe returns to the nucleus in the pursuit of more energy independence

It seems that the turning of Europe to nuclear energy collects momentum as countries stimulate their bets in seeking more energy independence.

In the past few weeks, Denmark Declare It plans to review a 40 -year -old ban on nuclear energy as part of a major political transformation, Spain It is said He referred to openness to review the closure of nuclear plants and Germany Decline Its long opposition to atomic force.

The renewable European interest in nuclear weapons explains how some countries have surrounded their bets in seeking more energy independence.

The prosperous trend appears to be paid at least, at least, through some costs associated with the renewable energy award, especially solar energy and wind technologies.

“Solar energy and winds are still cheaper and fastest way to drive green transition, and this is still our focus. But we also need to understand whether the new nuclear technologies can play a supportive role,” said Lars Agard, Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities in Denmark, for CNBC via email.

The heavy Scandinavian state said in mid -May that it plans to analyze the potential benefits and risks of new advanced nuclear technologies, such as small standard reactors, to supplement solar and wind technologies.

The Denmark government, which banned the use of atomic energy in 1985, added that it does not plan to return to traditional nuclear power plants.

“We do not have a recent experience with nuclear energy, and we lack the necessary knowledge with regard to safety and waste management. For this we must start a serious analysis – not to replace solar energy and wind, but to see if a new nucleus can complete our energy system in the future,” Agard said.

George Zakman, an older colleague in Bruges, a Brussels -based research center, said the nuclear energy is still the most disturbing electricity generation technology in Europe.

Zimman said: “Consequently, the nuclear renaissance in political discourse is somewhat surprising, given that the cost of the main competing technologies, and the new winds, has decreased by more than 80 percent, while the cost of nuclear plants has increased,” Zimman said.

Zakman said that the so -called “hidden cost” represented in the electricity balance and its transportation from renewable energy sources has increased with the high shares of wind generation and solar energy, noting that this issue has recently become more clear.

Spain has indicated its openness to atomic energy late last month. In an interview I mentioned By Bloomberg, Spanish Minister of Environmental Transition, Sarah Aisen, said that while the government begins plans to retire nuclear energy reactors over the next decade, the extensions exceeding 2035 cannot be excluded.

Aagsen said at the time that the government did not think about anything, and no specific proposals have been submitted yet.

It is widely considered hostile to nuclear weapons, and the southern European state has been immersed in a Blame Blame game On green energy in recent weeks. Follow a Castic power outage It affects a large part of Spain, Portugal and southern France.

Some external observers have put the flag Renewable energy sources and The goals of the net emissions zero As possible reasons for interruption, especially given Spain and Portugal, both high levels of wind and solar energy are dependent on the electricity network.

However, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the country’s network operator Red Electrica de Espana (ReE) were not record levels of renewable energy planned due to blackout.

Germany, which closed Another of its three remaining nuclear factories in 2023, recently canceled its opposition to nuclear energy in a rapprochement with France.

Under the leadership of Chancellor Friedrich Mirz, the newly elected government was He said The Financial Times reported on May 19, quoting French and German officials, to drop its objection to French efforts to ensure nuclear energy treatment on equality with renewable energy sources in European Union legislation, quoting French and German officials.

France’s spokesperson and Germany’s gathering were not all available immediately to comment when calling it by CNBC.

As is low carbon, defenders Argue This nuclear energy has the ability to play an important role in helping countries to generate electricity while reducing emissions and reducing their dependence on fossil fuels.

Some environmental groups, however, He says The nuclear industry is an expensive distraction and harmful to cheaper and cleaner alternatives.

Zimman of Bruges said that the ability of the nuclear power plants that has been fully lower to continue to work after her life, as well as “very certain” hope that small normative reactors of the next generation “can be built at a very low price for the imagination of industry and policymakers.”

In all possibilities, Zarkman said: “The new nuclear power plants will remain difficult to finance and will be fruitful at their best only. Meanwhile, the discussion is whether to prefer nuclear energy sources or renewable energy only helps natural gas – which is still burned as long as the investments in clean electricity do not occur widely.”

Data published by Energy Think Tank Ember Find The European Union electricity system continued a rapid shift towards renewable energy sources in the first half of last year. In fact, wind and solar energy rose to record its highest levels during a six -month period, reaching a share of 30 % of the generation of electricity in the mass and overcoming fossil fuels for the first time.

Besides the growth of renewable energy, Ember said at the time that the nuclear generation across the European Union increased by 3.1 %.