The EU Taxonomy (Taxonomy) is a tool to help investors understand whether an economic activity is environmentally sustainable or not. It helps to inform choices that lead to a low-carbon economy. The taxonomy may deem nuclear energy unsustainable; we expect that the reality of nuclear waste might be used to block nuclear from being included as a sustainable investment. However, considering the waste produced per unit of energy, existing nuclear energy technology is one of the energy sources that produces the least amounts of waste. Also note that this waste can be recycled in reactors of future generations.^35,36,37,38

This topic is now under discussion at the EC Joint Research Centre. We expect that the next generation of nuclear power plants, which have a closed fuel cycle, will be admitted within the taxonomy.³⁹ But even so, fuel from the contemporary nuclear power stations can already be recycled. For instance, Dutch used nuclear fuel is reprocessed in France at La Hague.⁴⁰  Whatever part of the uranium is left can be used in so-called waste-burning reactors.

Indeed, newer generations of reactors offer great benefits in terms of using the uranium resource efficiently, while also greatly reducing the amount of long-lived fission products. Several new reactor concepts, including the molten salt reactor (currently under development in the Netherlands), can run on more fuels than just uranium, it can also use thorium.⁴¹

Now, we store about 95% of the nuclear fuel after recycling for later use. This is what happens at the Borssele nuclear power plant for instance. The way of reprocessing and reusing spent fuel—as Borssele does—and the methods of intermediate storage of the residual products as organized at COVRA, receives worldwide praise. The Netherlands is already demonstrating a near-circular fuel cycle. It is advisable to reclassify the U₃O₈—which is stored at COVRA—as fuel because it is usable in reactors with a fast spectrum.

Climate change requires us to set the right priorities. We do not have the luxury of excluding technologies based on ideological considerations. Because climate policy is an urgent matter, all low-carbon energy sources must be able to contribute, and all these low-carbon energy sources must be given their place in the final taxonomy on sustainable finance. There is a real danger that nuclear energy will be excluded from the taxonomy—making it inaccessible to private financing from institutional investors, including the Dutch state, who would consider nuclear as sustainable. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the taxation of nuclear be based on scientific evidence. It must not be influenced by any political or ideological agenda. More than 100 scientists and environmentalists have therefore signed a letter to the European Commission (EC) calling for a timely and equitable assessment of nuclear energy in the taxonomy.^42,43

35 https://www.orano.group/en/nuclear-expertise/from-exploration-to-recycling/world-leader-in-recycling-used-nuclear-fuels
36 http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/wang2/
37 https://nuclear.gepower.com/build-a-plant/products/nuclear-power-plants-overview/prism1
38 https://www.wired.com/story/recycled-nuclear-waste-will-power-a-new-reactor/
39 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-will-global-uranium-deposits-last/
40 https://www.orano.group/en/nuclear-expertise/orano's-sites-around-the-world/recycling-spent-fuel/la-hague/unique-expertise
41 For example the molten salt reactor under development in The Netherlands. The current expectation is that a first molten salt based nuclear power reactor could be operational in 2035.  https://www.nrg.eu/nieuws/nederlands-kennisconsortium-opgericht-voor-de-ontwikkeling-van-gesmoltenzoutreactoren
42 https://snetp.eu/2020/05/27/over-100-non-industrial-organisations-call-for-a-just-assessment-of-nuclear-energy-in-the-eu-taxonomy-of-sustainable-finance/
43 https://snetp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/NGO-Civil-society-on-Taxonomy-2020.pdf