The European commission has announced that it will include nuclear power in the EU’s sustainable taxonomy under a complimentary delegated act that will confirm the energy source is as sustainable as other taxonomy-compliant power technologies.
According a commission communication released today the delegated act will be consistent with the conclusions of a Joint Research Centre report on nuclear power.
The JRC, the commission’s scientific expert arm, was asked to assess whether the EU should label nuclear power as a green investment. It concluded that the fuel qualifies as sustainable and does no more harm to human health or to the environment than other electricity production technologies already included in the bloc’s taxonomy.
The commission confirmed, however, that nuclear energy’s status is subject to the opinions of two further expert groups. A review of the JRC’s report is being carried out by the Euratom Article 31 experts group and the scientific committee on health, environmental and emerging risks (Scheer). The commission said these reviews will “complete the scientific evaluation” and be finalised in June 2021.
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