The French President, Emmanuel macron defends that the nuclear energy it has to be at the center of the EU’s strategy for the energy transition because it will help reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and gain independence from fuel imports.
In an interview published by Le Parisien, Macron reiterates his commitment to build new nuclear reactors in his country, It considers that it benefits from generating 70% of its electricity from its nuclear power plants.
To a question about the controversial proposal of the European Commission to include gas and nuclear energy in the taxonomy of “green” energies along with renewables, and therefore susceptible to receiving EU funds, Macron justifies it despite criticism by the operating risks of atomic plants and the radioactive waste they generate.
The advantage of nuclear power – he emphasizes – is that it allows “to produce energy in a decarbonised and non-intermittent way”, while renewables “have a weakness”, and that is that “they are intermittent”, he says. In addition, “it is not true that you can go overnight from coal to wind and solar energy because neither the wind blows nor the sun shines all day,” he adds.
Macron recalls that the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC) says that the energy transition will not be possible if the nuclear plants are closed.
Taking these elements into account and based on the fact that in Europe all the coal plants have to be closed, he warns that doing so without nuclear power plants would mean changing them for gas plants and would then increase dependence on imports from Russia, which they already represent around the 40% of the EU supply.
“Therefore,” he concludes, the center of the European strategy must go through nuclear, if we want to decarbonise and be more independent ”.
Source-larepublica.pe