Thread by @AvvocatoAtomico

Why the current draft of EU Taxonomy IS a victory for nuclear.
Thread 1/

I’ve seen both nuclear advocates and anti-nukes depict the EU Taxonomy as a loss or at least not a complete win. I beg to differ and I’m going to explain why.
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First: the “until 2045” clause. Of course the taxonomy goes under the outdated assumption that REs are intrinsically better than anything else so other solutions must be temporary. However, let me stress this out, the Taxonomy WILL UNDERGO YEARLY UPDATES. 3/

That means that by 2045 that clause will be most likely gone as long as new nuclear builds prove to be effective in displacing fossil fuels. But even if the clause doesn’t go, the Taxonomy is about financing, not allowance. 4/

That means that every new nuclear build whose financing is approved before 2045 will fall under it, even if the build starts afterwards. This covers new NPPs that will be able to operate until 50 years INTO THE NEXT CENTURY. Way more than we need to worry about now. 5/

Next: the “must be replacing fossil fuels” clause. We rely on fossils for ~80% of our total energy consumption. It’s basically a free candy here. By the time we’ll get rid of coal, we’ll have newer nuclear technologies & more informed public opinion. 6/

I won’t go into detail about the repository clause: it’s true, nuclear always is held to higher standards than other industries, but it’s not new and it’s not a hard task to accomplice anyway, given the low amount of waste generated. 7/

Finally, let’s get a look on where we came from, shall we? Five years ago, polls in most countries saw only a tiny % of people on our side. One and a half year ago, nuclear was excluded from public financing through EU Green Bonds (taxonomy is about private investments). 8/

If anyone really expected the taxonomy to be 100% pro-nuclear, they were naive in the first place. The EU Commission is made of people that have to answered also to countries where most citizens are skeptic about nuclear. 9/

Yet, nuclear made its way in. Only a handful of countries are still protesting against it, most of them are either happy or neutral. Can’t you see a changing? Sure, we’re not quite where we want to be yet, but… 10/

To understand your motion, you don’t just look at the position, but also the speed and the acceleration. We have gained momentum and we are accelerating, and we just bought ourself 23 fucking years to further boost our cause. From scratch. 11/

Nuclear was extremely unpopular 10 years ago, now it’s very popular in many countries and gaining in the others. It doesn’t take a prophet to see that if we keep this going by 2045 we’ll be cruising on nuclear powered ships. 12/

The taxonomy was never meant to be the final battle, but rather the battle that will turn the side of the war. First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin. And we’ll take it. /END