The brand new group goals to be a private-sector equal to the Nuclear Alliance, inside which a dozen EU member nations, led by Paris, frequently meet throughout gatherings of vitality ministers in Brussels.
There may be an “financial logic” to reviving nuclear energy in Europe, Séjourné mentioned, calling it a aggressive asset.
Nuclear energy “is low carbon, [is] aligned with European sovereignty, and is decreasing costs as a result of the quantity of [electricity] manufacturing is simply enormous,” he argued.
There’s only one downside with these claims: The final nuclear reactors constructed or underneath development in Europe have all skilled main delays and value overruns, elevating questions concerning the business’s capacity to ship new reactors on time and on price range.
French nuclear large EDF’s newest reactor, constructed on the Flamanville energy plant that Séjourné visited this week, has come to represent the business’s difficulties. Building took 17 years as a substitute of 5 and value seven occasions greater than deliberate, in response to a current report from the French audit physique.
Though business representatives say they will go quicker if given clear targets, these struggles have spurred French authorities to err on the facet of warning.