Subsidies for European nuclear fuel manufacturers

Manufacturers of nuclear fuel within the European Union will be eligible for national subsidies to cope with the additional costs of using electricity generated by renewable sources in operations, according to new rules announced by Brussels.

The European Commission said last week that it would approve support offered by EU governments to energy intensive industries as a response to the burden imposed by the high electricity prices coming from taxes and levies intended to finance renewable energy.

Nuclear fuel processing was a sector on a list of 68 industry areas that could benefit from the new relaxed EU subsidy rules, assuming national governments decide to take advantage of them. Even so, companies would still need to pay at least 15% of the additional costs for electricity coming from renewable energy sources, according to the European Commission.

These new rules apply retroactively from 1 July 2011, according to the EU competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia.

By Carmen Paun
for World Nuclear News