Kot piše Financial Times, se je Nemčija uklonila francoskemu pritisku, da sme uporabiti mehanizem in sredstva državne pomoči za obnovo svojih jedrskih elektrarn. To je velika zmaga za jedrsko energijo kot najbolj zanesljivega in najcenejšega vira brezogljične energije in za njeno renesanso v Evropi. Nemčija se je do zdaj temu upirala, ker bi francoska industrija zaradi nižje cene elektrike iz francoskih jedrskih elektrarn lahko pridobila konkurenčno prednost pred nemškimi podjetji.

The agreement reached on Tuesday among energy ministers in Luxembourg will mean that France could use government support to finance its largely state-owned nuclear plants, which generate about 70 per cent of its electricity.

Such a move had been heavily contested by Germany, Austria and Luxembourg, which have been historically opposed to nuclear power but also feared that allowing Paris to subsidise its nuclear plants would provide French industry with structurally lower energy prices, giving it a competitive advantage.

As part of the new EU rules for the bloc’s electricity market, France will be allowed to use funding structures known as contracts for difference. These set a minimum price guarantee for power providers, as well as a ceiling above which the state can recover any revenue.

Vendar pa lahko to francosko zmago izkoristi tudi Nemčija in ponovno zažene zadnjih 8 zaprtih reaktorjev. Nemške jedrske elektrarne so bile v bistveno boljšem stanju od francoskih in so elektriko proizvajale po polovični ceni (20-25 €/MWh) glede na francoske. Ob tem se človek pri zdravi pameti ponovno vpraša, zakaj je pri tako nizki proizvodni ceni elektrike Nemčija sploh zaprla svoje jedrske elektrarne in namesto njih zdaj proizvaja elektriko po ceni med 150 in 200 €/MWh, od tega pol leta večinoma iz premoga in plina. Zakaj Nemčija s svojo energetsko politiko kaznuje tako svoje prebivalce kot podjetja in zakaj z njo (prek 5 do 8-krat višjih emisij na MWh kot jedrska energija) kaznuje in uničuje tudi planet? Ima kdo racionalno razlago?

Germany has now said that France can fund its nuclear fleet life extensions with state support, reports the FT.

This decision opens up a new nuclear era in Europe.

Once France refurbishes its reactors, it will seal a permanent energy advantage over Germany. No other energy source competes with existing nuclear in its ability to cleanly and cheaply power industry . Germany just closed its reactors and its industries are suffering the consequences.

But there’s another crucial angle here. Germany should now be able to use its own state money to restore up to 8 of its own reactors to operation in the coming years!

And these German reactors consistently performed at a much higher level than French reactors, reportedly at around half the production cost. About €20-25 per MWh compared to around €40-50 for the French fleet.

Ironically, several of the German reactors need much less work to restart than most of the French reactors need to stay in operation! This speaks to the quality of German nuclear engineering and management.

So if Germany seizes the opportunity opened up by their own defeat, their restarted reactors by themselves can supply the entire cheap industrial electricity program that Economy Minister Robert Habeck has proposed.

And across Europe, this news clearly shows that the nuclear bloc led by France is truly in the driver’s seat on energy matters.

Vir: Mark Nelson