The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) of the UK and Ireland has endorsed a letter sent by our partners, Cities for Nuclear Free Europe, calling on the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to abandon plans to class nuclear as a ‘green’ fuel.
Under proposed new European Union ‘taxonomy’ rules, nuclear and gas would be classed as ‘sustainable’ fuels meaning new developments of power plants using these energy sources would be subject to more favourable treatment for tax and could also attract substantial investment from European Union structural funds.
The EU Commission’s new position is totally at odds with a previous statement made only seven months ago by EU Commissioner Gabriel that “the Commission has recently proposed that the construction and operation of nuclear power plants should be excluded from EU financial instruments such as InvestEU or through the European Regional Development Fund. “
The new rules are incredibly controversial and have set state against state, as for example Germany, which is rapidly abandoning nuclear, being in opposition to the plans, whilst nuclear-dependent France is a proponent.
Although the majority of the NFLA Councils are situated within the UK, and are therefore not directly by the EU proposals, several member authorities are situated in the Republic of Ireland and therefore remain within the European Union and there are worries similar rules could be introduced in the UK.
Speaking as Co-Chair of the NFLA Irish Forum, Councillor David Healy (Fingal County Council) said:
“The solution to climate change is not more nuclear or gas. It is more renewables. The Irish NFLA authorities want to see the island of Ireland move to 100% energy from renewable sources, particularly solar, wind, and tidal, with energy storage and demand management.
“Changing the taxonomy rules will make investment in nuclear and gas easier and attract investment away from renewables and renewables-based energy technologies, and that is why we are opposed to the changes.”
Fellow NFLA Irish Forum Co-Chair, Councillor Karen McKevitt (Newry, Mourne and Down Council) is also fearful that if changes in taxonomy are forced through in Europe, similar rules may be introduced in the UK, including Northern Ireland:
“The current Conservative Government seems intent upon making investment in nuclear as favourable as possible to operators.
“Within the last week, the British Government’s Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill passed through its third reading in Parliament. Once enacted, this will allow operators, such as French-state owned EDF Energy, to pass along all of the excess costs of building new British nuclear power plants, and even the costs incurred on aborted projects, to UK electricity consumers through a surcharge on their bills. It has been estimated that this ‘nuclear tax’ could cost every customer, including those living in Northern Ireland, around £1,000 over time.
“The government may use any changes in European taxonomy rules to introduce similar favourable treatment for nuclear operators costing our taxpayers even more. That is why the NFLA is backing our Irish authorities and our European partners in opposing these plans.”
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For more information please contact: Richard Outram, Secretary, NFLA email Richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk / mobile 07583 097793
Notes to Editors
The website of Cities for a Nuclear Free Europe can be found at: http://www.cnfe.eu
The letter sent by Executive City Councillor Jürgen Czernohorszky, Chairman, Cities for a Nuclear Free Europe to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and dated 19 January 2022, reads:
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen
Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 200
1049 Brussels
Belgium
Date: 19 January 2022
Subject: Nuclear energy has no place in EU taxonomy
Dear Ms President Von der Leyen,
I am writing to you as the chairman of Cities for Nuclear Free Europe (CNFE) and in close cooperation with Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA). CNFE is a network of cities – some of them capitals or regional capitals – and big local authorities in Europe, who are committed to a new CO2-neutral, nuclear-free future. With 33 member cities, we are representing a total number of more than 14 million inhabitants. NFLA is a UK and Ireland based network of more than 50 local authorities.
In December a draft for the EU standard for sustainable investments, the so-called EU taxonomy, became known. We are surprised that nuclear energy is, under certain circumstance, declared as sustainable energy. This proposal is not only against any financial reasoning or in contradiction with many scientific reports, but also against your own earlier statements.
In my letter of 23 April 2021, I have sent to you a summary of our main objections against nuclear energy, from the point of view of 33 major European cities.
On 8 June we received an answer from Commissioner Gabriel (vdl-ca-12.cab (2021) 3561461), in which is stated:
“the Commission has recently proposed that the construction and operation of nuclear power plants should be excluded from EU financial instruments such as InvestEU or through the European Regional Development Fund. “
This is in contradiction with the proposed EU Taxonomy. By including nuclear energy in the EU Taxonomy more funding will be available for this risky, dangerous and unsustainable energy source. Beside increasing risks and creating further burdens for the generations to come, considerable financial means will be missing for the transition to a sustainable, carbon neutral future. We as the Cities for Nuclear Free Europe think that nuclear power has to be excluded from any form of public financing. For us it seems absurd encouraging substantial investment in “transition” technologies, while the desired renewable technologies are available and can be established much faster and cheaper.
We base our plea on several scientific and economic reports. I will not repeat all our arguments, e.g. as mentioned in my earlier letter of 23 April 2021, because I am sure that these facts are well known to you and your staff. Let me just mention one aspect. We, as European major cities, are responsible for the health and wellbeing of our citizens. We see literally no room for nuclear plants in our densely populated Europe. Any activity or regulation that suggests that public money is going to the hazardous, risky and unsustainable nuclear industry, works against the major European cities, against our citizens and against our joint efforts to combat climate change.
Regarding the development of small, modular reactors (SMR), it is stated that these are decades away from commercial use and cannot contribute to achieving climate goals. It is particularly worrying that many SMR concepts aim for reduced safety requirements. Please find attached the study by “Forum Wissenschaft und Umwelt” which studies the economic viability of Small Modular Reactors.(1)
On behalf of the members of our network, I appeal to you to follow your own mentioned policy consequently, stated as “the construction and operation of nuclear power plants should be excluded from EU financial instruments” and that you will not stimulate the availability of other financial instruments for nuclear power plants.
Yours sincerely,
Jürgen Czernohorszky,
Chairman Cities for a Nuclear Free Europe
Executive City Councillor for Climate, Environment, Democracy and Personnel of Vienna
The website for Cities for a Nuclear Free Europe can be found at www.cnfe.eu
(1) This report is in German and can be supplied to media sources on request.