Nuclear Industry Calls on EU to Gain Prominence in
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Solar and wind power are poised to play an integral role in efforts to decarbonize the global economy. With dozens of countries pledging to move away from dirty sources of energy such as coal to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, solar and wind power are expected to act as alternative suppliers of green, renewable energy.
Governments across the world are now investing billions of dollars to build up wind and solar power generation infrastructure and are expected to ramp up their investments ahead of the 2050 net-zero emissions goal. However, one power source that seems to be left out of the conversation about green energy transition is nuclear power.
In the recently proposed Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), the European Commission (EC) outlined plans to scale up the development of green technologies in the regional bloc in preparation for the green energy transition. According to the commission, NZIA will help to secure the European Union’s energy system and make it more sustainable by making the net-zero manufacturing space in the EU more resilient and competitive.
The EC noted that technologies such as wind, solar, heat pumps, stationary battery storage, geothermal energy, fuel cells and sustainable alternative fuels would be integral to decarbonizing the EU’s economy. The commission also included small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced reactors that could extract energy from nuclear processes with as little waste as possible.
Still, Nucleareurope argued that the EC only partially included nuclear energy in green energy transition plans by mentioning advanced reactors and SMRs. The nuclear industry trade association noted that while their inclusion in NZIA was positive, including the entire nuclear industry and using it strategically in the green energy transition would achieve a lot more.
Nucleareurope director general Yves Desbazeille said that the nuclear energy reference in NZIA may have been a step in the right direction, but it ultimately wasn’t enough. He stated that the United States had already acknowledged the strategic potential of nuclear energy by fully including it in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which provides significant support to America’s nuclear industry.
Desbazeille said that by also supporting its nuclear sector through NZIA, the EU would be able to gain an equal footing with other regions in terms of energy production and remain a critical player in the global clean technology space. Nucleareurope declared that it is ready and willing to do what it takes to ensure Europe has a secure and resilient supply of clean and affordable energy in time to meet 2050 net-zero carbon goals.
What is emerging in all these debates is that consensus is growing that nuclear miners such as Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) will have an increasing role to play as the years go by if countries are to have dependable sources of energy as fossil fuels are phased out.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/UUUU
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