EDF calls for broader range of eligible nuclear technologies under the Net-Zero Industry Act

Proponents of nuclear energy in France have welcomed plans to scrap the two-tier approach to low-carbon technologies in the EU’s proposed Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA). At the same time, however, they condemn the lower status accorded to nuclear energy as “incompatible” with the bloc’s broader decarbonisation goals. French lawmakers had already voiced their concerns about the impact of the current wording. Now EDF has joined them, Euractiv reported.

The Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) is intended to ensure that Europe can manufacture at least 40% of the technologies it considers “strategic” for achieving its goal of reducing emissions to net zero by 2050.

The NZIA is intended to help strengthen Europe’s manufacturing capacity for net-zero technologies, boost the competitiveness of manufacturing selected technologies in Europe and improve the EU’s energy resilience.

However, member states have expressed dissatisfaction with the status of nuclear power in the proposed regulation. Under the Commission’s proposal, only small modular reactors (SMRs) and “advanced technologies” generating energy from nuclear processes “with minimal waste from the fuel cycle” would qualify as “strategic” and thus receive support.