Von der Leyen: Nuclear not ‘strategic’ for EU decarbonisation

28 comments
  1. *5 years later*

    We need to super charge our nuclear industry to compete with America.

    Edit

    I understand maybe not the big nuclear stuff but the SMR type stuff (yep fully on that bandwagon), has real promise especially around decarbonising certain industries.

  2. how do you do it then ? especially if you factor the grey energy (use to build the stuff you think will decarbonize europe), also asking people to keep consume like they do today or even more is totally irresponsible. Its about time we talk about the end of economic growth as apha and omega.

  3. Imagine the world running on fussion in 30 years but the EU is stuck on natural gas and lignite because top politicians are too smoothbrained to listen to scientists.

  4. How someone with her educational background can lack basic logic reasoning will always puzzle me

  5. You need nuclear especially with a growing EU population lol. Else you get a repeat of the 2022 energy price hikes whenever demand > supply

  6. Not that surprising. Europe is drying up and the water needed to cool them is a serious problem and concern. Nuclear is also not flexible enough to be paired with renewable energy. And it only gets more expansive and not cheaper considering rising mining costs and that it’s finite.

  7. Her solution? 100% renewables. Because that’s sooo easy to do if you ignore the fact that solar and wind are intermittent. I’d like to hear what she’d suggest for the times when it’s not windy or sunny enough.

    Taking Germany for example. They have installed a lot of wind turbines, if it’s very very windy, they can cover the energy needs of the whole country with just renewables, even today. If it’s not windy? They don’t come even close, that’s why Germany can’t abandon coal energy production.

    That’s where nuclear comes in, instead of coal, you use nuclear energy in order to cover renewables weaknesses.

  8. Coal is better 😂
    Reddit for those who don’t understand what I mean:
    she’s German so for them coal is better than nuclear energy for decarbonation

  9. **Welcome to** ***”reddit hasn’t read the article”*** **again!**

    Some quotes from VdL from the article before the usual “Germans hate nuclear” comments:

    *“Nuclear can play a role in our decarbonisation effort – this is important,”*

    *“In our Net-Zero Industry Act, a wide set of net-zero technologies – including cutting-edge nuclear – have access to some simplified rules and incentives,”*

    *“But only the net-zero technologies that we deem strategic for the future – like solar panels, batteries and electrolysers, for example – have access to the full advantages and benefits,”*

    *“So, the cutting-edge nuclear is in for specific fields, but not for all.”*

    **TLDR:** The EU comission (which, btw, does consist of people from every member states, not just the evil, nuclear-hating germans) **is not against nuclear** per se but won’t provide EU funding and laxed rules for it.

  10. She is right

    And she nuclear is part and has its role but it is not strategic in the long term

    And with nuclear she means our nuclear fission plants not some fusion power plants that might be possible in the future

  11. You can bet that if there is a technology or idea that doesn’t work, European politicians will bet on it. And vice versa of course. Maybe we could prove it rigorously.

  12. So, nuclear power is not strategic, but solar panels are. While the life cycle analysis of solar panels prove that their impact on the climate is 3 times more important than nuclear. Okay, 3 times of nuclear energy’s impact is still a low level but that’s not smart.

    Plus, solar panels are imported from Asia and made with minerals from South America… very great for the Europe sovereignty. The added value of nuclear production is much more European than the solar industry.

  13. EU looking at Nordics building nuclear energy and acting as carbon sinks according to NASA research: “We’re worried about the most forested nations in the EU not being enough of a carbon sink”

    EU looking at Germany ramping up coal burning to reach #4 in global rankings: “Haha, coal burning goes brrr. Why do my lungs hurt?”

  14. So how much power has Germany produced with nuclear power so far ?

    I’m fine if we block nuclear power but all countries that used it for the last 50 years must donate
    the green transformation to countries which haven’t used it or barely used it.

    If not just stfu and mind your own interest and don’t cripple those which have been crippled for last 50 years not getting one.

    I have eaten the cake for 50 years but now I’m fat. You thin guys can’t eat it now cuz you’ll get fat too.

Leave a Reply