Most of Europe has been struggling to meet ambitious green energy goals as analysts in the energy industry warn them that a full conversion to wind and solar, involving the total abandonment of fossil fuels, wouldn’t be able to produce enough energy to keep the grid at full power in the specified time frame. Those predictions proved true when Germany was forced to restart some of its coal-fired plants last April after the lights started going out at night.

This reality has forced the European Union to modify their “green energy conversion” plans. Rather than rely on more wind and solar power, they’re proposing that nuclear power (and natural gas) qualify as green energy sources as long as plans are in place to safely store spent nuclear fuel.

Spent nuclear fuel rods in modern reactors are easier to manage with new technologies in recycling and storage. Certain environmentalists still oppose nuclear power despite the pristine safety record that the industry has racked up over the past several decades. The same environmentalists are ignoring the new generations of advanced nuclear reactors with more stable fuels and engineering improvements for size, safety, and deployability.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/eu-drafts-plan-label-gas-nuclear-investments-green-2022-01-01/