The topic was recently discussed in Parliament. Pedro Pinto, from Chega, addressed the topic, while the Minister of Energy considered that investing in nuclear energy “doesn’t make sense” given the size of the investment and doubts are multiplying on social media. Would it be possible to invest in this energy in Portugal? SIC Verifies.
Speaking to journalists in Guimarães, on the sidelines of the presentation session of the European Green Capital, Maria da Graça Carvalho said that investing in nuclear energy will be important for countries that have “less sun, less wind and less water” and, therefore, less renewable potential, but, in Portugal, .
“For nuclear energy, you need a quite high initial investmentwhich therefore in our case does not make sense. We have a lot of renewable potential, we have already invested and, therefore, the our focus should be on renewables“, he indicated.
Also on social media, the topic continues to generate discussion. There are those who, in this sense, even question the minister for saying that “it doesn’t make sense” while the country remains dependent on Spain’s energy “which is generated by coal and nuclear plants”.
“Why is the production of nuclear energy not discussed in Portugal?“, it is suggested in another publication.
On March 10, the President of the European Commission announced a guarantee of 200 million euros to support private investment in innovative nuclear technologies, aiming avoid “the vulnerabilities” seen with the import of gas and oil from the Middle East.
“We need to mobilize investment and today I can announce that we will create a guarantee of 200 million euros to support private investment in innovative nuclear technologies. The resources will come from the Emissions Trading System [para] Not only do we de-risk investments in these low-carbon technologies, but we also want to send a clear signal to other investors to join in,” said Ursula von der Leyen.
Ursula Von der Leyen also considered that “Europe made a strategic mistake by moving away from a reliable and affordable energy source with low emissions” and must now correct this path.
Would it be possible to invest in this energy in Portugal?
A minister is right when she says that investment would be high. In an interview with SIC, João Cruz, professor at NOVA FCT, PhD in Nuclear Physics, explains that the “cost of a nuclear reactor, of a single nuclear reactor, is around 15, 20 billion euros” and yours construction is not immediate.
In the same sense, points out Bruno Soares Gonçalves, specialist in nuclear energy and president of the Institute of Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion (IPFN) and responsible for the Systems Engineering and Integration Group at IPFN, who highlights that the “initial investment in nuclear is high”.
“For Portugal to move forward alone seems to me to be a very high cost. Because in principle it would need more than one nuclear reactor. Obviously Large projects can benefit if there are several countries participating. For example, Portugal, Spain, France, this would be a European consortium that would allow costs to be diluted and not trapped in a single country”, explains João Cruz, considering that the solution could involve a European consortium.
The president of the IPFN adds that, in addition, the cost would also depend on which option, namely, it goes “by large nuclear reactors or so-called small modular reactorsin which the investment cost may be lower and may be more phased in time”.
However, despite the cost, the benefits of having energy of this nature in Portugal could offset since this is “quite competitive”.
Bruno Soares Gonçalves states that “it is necessary to assess what the need is and what the country’s ambitions are” and then “from a strategic point of view, assess what the country’s economic ambitions are”.
The expert considers that must be done”a study of total system costs, that takes into account the various possible portfolios and see with this study what the solutions that guarantee the lowest price for companies and families”.
The advantages
“Nuclear energy has a great advantage because it has a high power density, therefore, a single nuclear reactor can typically supply a city like Greater Lisbon. So its use is also cheap in terms of operation“, explains João Cruz.
Another that “we cannot ignore”, according to Bruno Soares Gonçalves, “is the resilience to rising fuel prices”.
“In the operating costs of a nuclear power plant, the uranium, or spent nuclear fuel, represents only 10% of operating costswhich means that a increase in fuel has a small impact on operating costs, which makes nuclear quite resilient. On the other hand, each reactor does not use a significant amount of fuel. It is easy to store, which allows strategic reserves to be maintained for relatively long periods”, he details.
João Cruz also points out that, despite having renewable energy at our disposal, these are “intermittent”, so they do not guarantee stability. Nuclear would be an energy source that could be complementary to renewable e would guarantee also greater independence from fossil fuels.
And risks?
As for the risks, João Cruz says what is this “It’s a highly regulated area” through the International Atomic Energy Agency itself, the United Nations agency that defines many of the operating and safety criteria for these systems.
With regard to a nuclear power plant, the professor explains that the level of radiation a person would be exposed to if they lived near a nuclear power plant “is 10 thousand times lower than the maximum allowed by law”.
“The food we eat has 3,000 times more radiation than the radiation we would receive from living next to a nuclear power plant,” he adds.
João Cruz highlights that in the last 70 years, nuclear energy has “evolved enormously” and “is now a very safe technology”. And, he concludes, “so much so that the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is an agency regulated by the United Nations, is closely linked to the construction of nuclear plants.”
SIC verifies that it is…
Nuclear energy is understood by experts as beneficial, safe and necessary as a complement to renewable energyveis and fossil fuels (to avoid dependence on these). The costs of a nuclear reactor reach 20 billion euros, but the The solution could involve, for example, a European consortium to dilute investments.
