the Commission is resurrecting the EURATOM Treaty as a ...

“20 years after launching an internal market for energy,

the Commission is resurrecting the EURATOM Treaty

as a special law

for financing nuclear power.”

Dörte Fouquet 2014

Case in point:

Hinkley Point C

www.plage.at Julia Bohnert

Nuclear New Builds:

slow & costly

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© a

zere

t33 /

Pix

abay

Rhetoric Reality

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• EDF (France) & CGN (China)

• Reactor type: 2 EPRs

• Reactor start-up: 2026/27

© S

am

uel K

eyte

/ G

reenpeace

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* Contract for Difference over 35 years!

Strike Price £ 92.50/MWh (€ 111 MWh /€ 11 ct/kWh)

→ offshore wind: £ 39.652019/MWh)

* Loan Guarantee: £ 17bn (€ 20.4bn) of debt

* Compensation Guarantee

2013 Deal:

* Construction Cost: 2013: £14bn (€ 17bn)

2021: £ 23bn (€ 28bn)

→ provides EDF with huge selective advantage on the market!

EC approvalstate aid

2014Austria

Action forAnnulment

2015GC

Dismissal& Appeal

2018ECJFinal

decision

2020

Hinkley & EURATOM?

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* Euratom Treaty

* Market Failure

“The promotion of nuclear energy as an objective of

EU law must not be subordinated to other objectives

of EU law such as environmental protection.”

The EURATOM Treaty defines its own legal system

for the use of nuclear energy!

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80981612 /

iS

tock

Semi-permeable membrane protecting the

competition provisions:(Julian Nowag)

Let in :

e.g. (…) promotion

of nuclear energy

as a core objective

of the Euratom

Treaty

(…) Member

States are free to

choose their

energy source

(Article 194(2)

TFEU)

Kept out:

e.g. provisions

relating to the

environment

(Art. 191 TFEU et al)

Can we afford nuclear… and EURATOM?

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iS

tock

www.plage.at

[email protected]

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Sources (among others):

Der Standard (2020). EuGH-Anwalt schmettert Österreichs Berufung zu AKW Hinkley Point ab.

Energy Brainpool (2015). Höhe der staatlichen Förderung von Hinkley Point C. Kurzanalyse im Auftrag von

Greenpeace Energy eG.

European Court of Justice (2020). Judgement in Case C-594-18 P.

General Court of the European Union (2018). Judgement in Case T-356/15 Austria v Commission.

Hornbanger, Kathrin (2017). Atomkraftwerk Hinkley Point: Ein Urteil mit weitreichenden Folgen. Der Standard

Online.

IWR Online (2021). EDF: Bau des Atomkraftwerks Hinkley Point C verzögert sich und wird teurer.

Nowag, Julian (2020). Hinkley Point C – Is semi-permeable membrane protecting the internal market’s nucleus?

European Law Blog.

Thomas, Nathalie/Pickard, Jim (2020). Plan for new UK nuclear plant under intense scrutiny. Financial Times.

Watt, Holly (2017). Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant. The

Guardian.

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