European plan for taxpayer subsidy to nuclear power industry

EU draws up plans to allow state aid for nuclear power FT.com By Jim Pickard in London and Joshua Chaffin in Brussels 19 July 13 The EU has drawn up plans to change state aid rules to make it easier for member countries to subsidise nuclear power, in a move that looks set to trigger a political row across the continent.

By exempting all nuclear projects from the general restrictions on state aid – subject to certain conditions – the EU’s competition commission will prompt relief in UK and France but fury in Germany and Austria.

The commission had planned to delay unveiling its proposal to wait until after the autumn elections in Germany, where there is huge political resistance to nuclear. But a leaked copy of the draft guidelines on energy aid, obtained by the Financial Times, shows the criteria that would allow member states to offer state aid for nuclear power as a matter of course.

Nuclear companies can already apply for exemptions from state aid rules on a case-by-case basis.

Under the proposals, countries would be allowed to use state aid for projects to address “market failure” as long as this is through a time-limited mechanism not offering more than a “reasonable rate of return”.

The decision will be welcomed in Britain, where the government is offering various support mechanisms, including a guaranteed price for nuclear power and a financing “guarantee” to try to get a wave of new reactors built by the private sector.

EDF, the French energy giant, is locked in talks with the UK Treasury over a price mechanism for energy from its proposed reactor at Hinkley Point in southwest England.

Yet Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said on Friday she still supported her country’s resistance to any chance in the state aid rules to favour nuclear.

In 2008 the EU created special state aid guidelines to allow subsidies for renewable forms of energy, such as wind and solar power, as well as energy efficiency projects – but not nuclear.

Nuclear power’s advocates, particularly France, have long sought to make the case that its low greenhouse gas emissions should also make it eligible for special treatment in EU policy.

Claude Turmes, a Green MEP from Luxembourg, called the document “ridiculous” and argued that it would tilt the playing field in favour of nuclear power at the expense of renewables. “It’s really a major step backward,” Mr Turmes said.

Germany has previously told the European Commission that the plans were “not acceptable”, arguing that the wider costs of nuclear power – such as decommissioning and liabilities for accidents – made it hard to determine the potential extent of state support……. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8d9a66d6-f089-11e2-b28d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2ZcAAG3v9

July 20, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, politics

1 Comment »

The nuclear industry is back at the EU with its begging bowl once again
Blogpost by Justin McKeating – July 19, 2013 at 20:22

The nuclear industry has had 60 years to come up with a way of financing itself. In that time it has failed utterly to do so. Decade after decade it has had to rely on taxpayers and government subsidies to build its reactors.

It’s never enough. Time and time again they come back with their begging bowls asking for another handout. And here they come again.

Leaked plans show that the European Union wants to change existing rules to allow countries to provide state aid to nuclear reactor builders – something not currently allowed under EU law.

This is typical of the nuclear industry. It constantly finds itself playing a losing game and so is always trying to fix the rules to try and win.

Its spokespeople say one thing and mean another. Take Vincent de Rivaz, CEO of EdF Energy in the UK. In 2009, he said:

“Claims that nuclear has been subsidised in the past, so must be in the future, fail to recognise that the world has moved on.”

It looks very much as if the world has moved on once again. The nuclear industry is back and it wants more of your money.

We need to say “enough is enough”. If we want to keep our wallets in our pockets, we need to tell the EU that nuclear power doesn’t deserve our money.

(Find out more about the leaked EU plans over at Greenpeace UK’s EnergyDesk blog)

Links here..
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/nuclear-reaction/the-nuclear-industry-is-back-at-the-eu-with-i/blog/45999/

Comment by arclight2011part2 | July 20, 2013 | Reply

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