Photo: Finnbarr Webster/ / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 07 May 2021, 9: 16 am EDT
The response of the European Union (EU) to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been increasingly focused on the energy sector, with a planned oil embargo against Russia, so some countries are reconsidering their decision to abandon nuclear power.
The EU imported more than 60% of your energy in 2019. Russia provided that year the 47% of the coal imported by the block, as well as the 41% of natural gas and the 27% of the oil. To reduce that dependency, some states are considering the nuclear option.
In March, the International Energy Agency (IEA) asked European countries with nuclear power plants to they rethink the closures that they have programmed to reduce their dependence on Russian gas in the generation of electricity.
According to the IEA, the nuclear ones contribute a 25% of electricity in the EU, but without changes in current policies, this percentage will drop “significantly” in the coming years . The first country that has reacted is Belgium, which announced a few weeks ago that it will extend the operation of two reactors that it was going to close by ten years.
This is the situation of nuclear energy in some European countries.
In France, where 56 nuclear power plants generate around 70% Of electricity, energy independence was one of the strong themes of the campaign for the re-election of Emmanuel Macron.
The liberal had already announced in February his plans to not only extend the useful life of the reactors beyond the 40 initially planned years, but for build at least six new ones that can take over from the current park.
The project The president’s act, which includes the possibility of increasing the park with another eight reactors, is part of the goal of reaching the goal of zero net emissions for 2033 through the replacement of fossil fuels with nuclear and renewable energy.
The country is currently building a first reactor, off the coast of Normandy, toalthough it accumulates a dozen years of delay and enormous cost overruns: according to the Court of Auditors it will cost 19.56 million euros, far from 3.60 million budgeted.
The United Kingdom is, together with France, the European country that is most committed to the nuclear sector in order to maintain its energy autonomy. The British Government plans to build eight new reactors to reduce dependence on gas and Russian oil, and also to reduce polluting emissions.
The project will increase the country’s nuclear capacity by 24 gigawatts (GW) between now and 2050, which will cover the 25 % of the estimated electricity demand for that time. Nuclear accounted for a quarter of the British energy mix at the end of the decade 400, although his weight was declining, until 16% in 2020.
The government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to have given everyone the green light new reactors before 2030, when most of the six nuclear plants currently in service will have reached the end of their useful life.
The first of these projects is already underway, the Hinkley Point C plant in the south-west of England, the largest in the United Kingdom to date, which will generate 3.2 gigawatts and will start producing in 2026.
In Italy, who decided already in 1987, after the Chernobyl accident, renounce nuclear energy, the voices calling for a rebirth of this technology are resurfacing, to avoid dependence on gas imports and other fossil sources.
While a return to classical atomic plants is vetoed by two referendums against their use, Italy awaits the construction of the first nuclear fusion reactor, scheduled for 2028.
The Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, acknowledged a few weeks ago that efforts are focused “on the fusion of magnetic confinement”, considered by many, “as the only possible way to build commercial reactors capable of generating electricity cheaply and sustainably”.
Germany rules out for now changing its plan to complete the nuclear blackout between now and the end of this year with the disconnection of the last three plants still in operation in the country. The Vice Chancellor and Minister of Energy and Climate, the environmentalist Robert Habeck, rejects the possibility of a postponement as proposed by the conservative opposition.
Poland, the largest of the ex-communist countries in the EU plans to have its first nuclear power plant between now and 2033, with a triple objective: “clean” its energy mix (now dominated by coal), stimulate the economy and advance its security and energy autonomy.
The Polish energy plan contemplates investing more than 30.000 million euros in the construction of six nuclear reactors that will contribute the 23 % of the energy of the country of here to 2040.
Finland the country in Northern Europe, with a long border with Russia, was the first in the EU to return to betting on nuclear energy after the Chernobyl accident.
In 2002 approved the construction of a reactor (Olkiluoto 3), finally started up last January, with 13 years behind schedule and a multi-million dollar cost overrun compared to the initial plan. In 2010, approved the construction of two other plants, although only one project was started, participated by the Russian state company Rosatom, which was paralyzed this week in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sweden the largest of the Scandinavian countries currently six reactors are in operation in three power plants and there is a moratorium of 2010 to build new reactors, while maintaining the existing number. The conservative opposition now claims to promote atomic energy, which currently provides the 40% of electricity production.
The nuclear issue and energy independence from Russia is presented as one of the important issues in the next general election in September. EFE
It may interest you:
- Pastor of church in North Carolina is accused of child sexual abuse
-
- Hispanics cause serious injuries to several people in a bar in Texas
- The Russian ambassador to the US claims that NATO does not take the threat of war seriously nuclear
- George W Bush had a virtual meeting with Volodimir Zelensky whom he praised for his leadership
Pregnant mother dies after being run over by speeding driver in Utah