European nuclear power plants of the new generation will need to invest “500 billion by 2050”, estimates the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, who considers it “of great importance” to open green labels on nuclear energy, in the context of the energy transition.

“Current nuclear power plants, only these, will need investments of 50 billion euros by 2030. And 500 billion by 2050 for the new generation,” French Commissioner Thierry Breton says in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD).

On December 31, the European Commission presented the Green Labeling Project for Nuclear and Gas Plants, which aims to facilitate the financing of facilities that contribute to the fight against climate change.

This rating, or “rating,” identifies areas of investment that benefit from green labels.

The European carbon-neutral target in 2050 means mobilizing huge investments: the classification in question is known to allow access to finance on favorable terms.

For Thierry Breton, the inclusion of nuclear energy in this classification is “critical to allow the sector to attract all the necessary capital”.

“Environmental transformation means an industrial revolution on an unprecedented scale. In addition to the race for capital between different energy sources – renewable energies, for example, will have to mobilize 65 billion euros of investments annually. It is necessary to add 45 billion euros in annual investment to equip the structures infrastructure with complementary networks”, at his discretion.

When 26% of the electricity produced in the European Union today is of atomic origin, the Commissioner estimates that nuclear power “will represent at least 15% of the (energy mix) basket in 2050”.

This issue has been the subject of lively debates among the twenty-seven nations, with twelve nations – France at the top – actively promoting nuclear power in the face of states that remain highly reticent to civilian nuclear weapons, such as Germany and Austria.

The European Commission sent a draft text to member states, which has been debated for months and is still tentative, on December 31.

The text specifies the conditions, that is, the setting time for the construction of new nuclear power plants. Projects still have to obtain building permission before 2045.