Europe is at the center of Messy’s nuclear decline

Europe’s views on nuclear power are divided between proponents and critics, and each country is placing itself at a disadvantage. France is the world’s largest supplier of nuclear energy and wants to export its expertise to other European countries, says Raphael Hanoteaux, senior adviser to the European climate change think tank E3G. The Hungarian government, committed to ensuring universal access to electricity, has signed a new contract Russian financial transactions building two nuclear weapons, in addition to the four existing ones in the country. The Czech Republic government also has plans to build two new nuclear weapons, as the Polish government seeks to build the country’s first nuclear arsenal to curb excessive dependence on coal.

But even nations that continue to use nuclear power are experiencing the effects of aging and the delay in construction. At the end of 2021, 17 of France 56 Nuclear weapons production has been halted because of poor maintenance or technical difficulties, forcing the country, which usually exports electricity — to buy its neighbors. In the UK, nuclear power production declined last year to a record low since 1981 due to retirement and shutdown of older plants, according to a study by Carbon Summary. The UK nuclear deficit was linked to power from gas-fired power plants and from Europe.

The problem is that new nuclear weapons are not enough to fill those gaps. And those who come online are not bound fast enough. The UK will abandon its six nuclear reactors by 2030, but has only one nuclear power plant under construction: two nuclear power plants under construction in Somerset. The UK government hopes to find a joint venture for another similar plant in the Suffolk area. But even if this is accepted, the two plants together will simply be the same as the existing nuclear power plants in the UK. France’s most recent nuclear weapons, meanwhile, were supposed to come online to Normandy in 2013, but long delays have made this possible. opening date back to 2023.

Long-term scenarios mean that building new nuclear power plants will not be the best way for nations to deplete carbon dioxide quickly. The UK and Germany are both aiming to reduce emissions from oil by 2035, which is too short to increase nuclear power. Dries Acke, director of the European Climate Foundation’s nuclear program, states: “At that time you could not build a nuclear plant.

And although construction on new plants has been slow, wind and solar energy have been delivered faster than expected. “What has happened is that renewals are very common in the EU,” said Antony Frogatt, deputy director of Chatham House’s Environmental and Social program and co-ordinator. annual report criticizing nuclear power companies. In 2000, 860 terawatt-hours of electricity were generated from nuclear power in the EU, but by 2020 it had dropped to 685 terawatts. During this time, the cost of nuclear energy fell sharply compared to nuclear power.