EIB to provide loans to nuclear projects
24 July 2007
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has recently reviewed its lending policy for energy-related projects. The revised policy was endorsed by the EIB's governors in June. The bank noted that the European Commission's report entitled An Energy Policy for Europe, published in January, states that it is up to each EU member state to decide whether or not to rely on nuclear energy in order to meet its energy demand while reducing emissions of greenhouses gases. The EIB has therefore said that it will provide loans for the construction of new nuclear power plants, fuel cycle facilities and research activities. Conditions for obtaining EIB loans for nuclear projects include that the project is notified to the European Commission under the Euratom Treaty and that the EC issue a favorable opinion on the project. The bank said that issues including significant future costs related to the cost of nuclear waste disposal and plant decommissioning would "constitute an intergral part of the bank's own assessment of the proposed investment." The bank has lent a total of some EUR6.6 billion ($9 billion) in European nuclear projects over the past 40 years, most of which has since been repaid. On 17 July, the bank's board of directors approved a loan of up to EUR200 million ($275 million) to Urenco for increasing uranium enrichment capacity at its gas centrifuge plants in Almelo, the Netherlands, and in Capenhurst, UK. The total cost of the project is put at EUR430 million ($600 million).
Further information
European Investment Bank
Urenco
WNN: Europe's low-carbon energy plan