The European Union will launch an industrial alliance on mini-nuclear reactors

Between 350 and 450 billion by 2050 and launch in the next few months an alliance with the world of the nuclear industry on new small-sized reactors, which are expected to become operational in Europe “within ten years at the latest”.This was said by the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, who thus opened the 16th European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) which was held in Slovakia on Tuesday 7 November.The set objective is to take stock of the growing interest in nuclear technologies in some EU countries and what, according to some, they could have in achieving climate neutrality by the middle of the century.However, the announcement sparked a reaction from scientists, NGOs and environmental associations, who expressed doubts and perplexities in a press release on the website of the European Environmental Bureau, the largest European network of environmental citizen organisations.

During his intervention, the commissioner Kadri Simson stated:«To achieve climate neutrality by 2050 we need all low-carbon sources, including nuclear, which has played a key role in a number of Member States over the last 50 years and today 100 reactors with installed capacity of 97 Gigawatts are in operation in 12 Member States and provide 22% of the total electricity production in the European Union."The intention is to launch an Alliance with the industrial world on Small Module Reactors (SMRs), i.e smaller and less powerful nuclear reactors being developed compared to traditional ones, which according to the EU would contribute to the decarbonisation of "difficult" sectors such as transport, the chemical and steel industries and district heating.Furthermore, SMRs they would present numerous potential benefits, ranging from improved safety and shorter construction times to lower investment needs and less footprint per unit.“It is clear – added Simson – that to achieve ambitious emissions reduction targets in the next decade, all renewable and low-carbon energy sources will be needed.”

Despite sharing the final goal, it is its pursuit through the method of small reactors that is arousing doubts and perplexities among some scientists, NGOs and environmentalists.The nuclear engineer Giovanni Battista Zorzoli he declared:«Any cost reduction, because you do everything in the factory, can never compensate for the diseconomies of scale linked to the fact of having to create many small-sized systems».Giuseppe Onufrio, director of Greenpeace Italy, then explained:«The first reactors in history were built for military naval propulsion and then the entire history of technology has been in the sense of expanding the size of power to reduce costs with economies of scale.The fact that today we can expect to follow the opposite path is rather bizarre."Doubts and perplexities that have been collected in a press release of theEuropean Environmental Bureau (EEB), the largest European network of environmental citizen organisations.According to the EEB, investing in new nuclear power plants could prove worthwhile harmful for five reasons:prolonged delays of the latest plants built in Europe, transfer of high costs onto taxpayers and families, involvement of lobbies and other geostrategic interests that go beyond the environmental issue, impact on carbon emissions and formation of a centralized energy system that does not involve citizens.

The statement also features the quote from Luke Haywood of the European Environment Bureau – postdoctoral researcher and author of study Why investing in new nuclear power plants is bad for the climate – who stated:"AND highly unlikely that small modular reactors change something about the poor investment economics of nuclear energy.Our focus should be on what we know works to reduce emissions quickly:energy saving and renewable energy.Every euro invested in nuclear power could help replace fossil fuels more quickly and cheaply if directed towards renewable energy, networks and energy storage.This would also reduce air pollution, radioactive waste and energy bills, while allowing for greater citizen participation."

[by Roberto Demaio]