EU states spend more tax money on nuclear than on renewable power - report

Jul 25, 2013 - The financial support EU member states grant to the nuclear power sector is more than they spend on renewable energy, news service dpa Insight EU reported, citing an internal paper of the European Commission.

The document shows that in 2011 the member states have invested EUR 35 billion (USD 46.3bn) of the taxpayers money in nuclear power and EUR 30 billion in renewables. Moreover, the EU estimates of the state support for the nuclear sector are very conservative as they do not include all expenses. For example costs for transportation and storage of fuel rods are not calculated entirely, as there is less transparency about their amount. The operators of nuclear power plants also pay only a fraction of the safety and security costs for their plants, while the bulk is covered by the governments.

The state support for fossil power sources like coal was EUR 26 billion in 2011, while for efficiency optimisation, such as insulation of building, the states invested only EUR 15 billion.

The paper thus concludes that there is a wide-spread but wrong assumption that the cost of power generated from nuclear and fossil-powered plants is cheaper than the renewable power.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.322)

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