A legislative document showed that the European Commission (EC) had classified nuclear and natural gas energy as transitional green energy sources that contribute to a carbon-free economy.
“The European Commission believes that there is a role for private investment in gas and nuclear energy during the transition period,” the document says.
In particular, it also refers to the fact that new investments in nuclear power plants are allowed until 2045, while in gas infrastructure – until 2030.
Earlier, on January 1, it became known that the European Union may assign the status of environmentally friendly to some projects in nuclear energy and the gas industry, the European Commission stated.
The EC had concluded that natural gas and nuclear energy were the means to facilitate the transition to predominantly renewable sources.
At the same time, on January 31, reports emerged that three of the six operating nuclear power plants in Germany had stopped working.
The decision to phase out nuclear energy and switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources was first taken by the government of Gerhard Schröder in 2002.
His successor, Angela Merkel, reversed her decision to extend the life of Germany’s nuclear power plants after the Fukushima accident in Japan in 2011 and set 2022 as the deadline for their closure.