The European Commission is open to increasing the use of nuclear energy as a way for member states to cut carbon emissions and avoid volatile energy prices, French newspaper Les Echos reported on Tuesday. The paper said it had obtained a draft text of the EU Commission's new plan to create a common energy policy for the 25 nation bloc which it is due to publish on Jan. 10.

The draft report dedicates one page to nuclear energy, Les Echos said, adding that the draft also called on separating the tasks of energy producers and distributors. The Commission earlier this month stepped up efforts to open the EU's energy markets to more competition, threatening 16 countries with court action for failing to implement EU energy rules, including that companies are to put generation businesses and transmission networks into separate bodies.

Several newspapers have been reporting on the run-up to the release of a new energy policy, based on early drafts. Some of the reports have been contradictory and a source close to those writing the text told Reuters that they were out of date. The source said the process of drafting a final text continued, as a number of decisions were yet to be made.

Of all energies which emit a limited amount of carbon, nuclear energy is the most developed within the EU, Les Echos quoted the draft text as saying.

"It is less vulnerable to price fluctuations than coal or gas ... Moreover, it is available in sufficient quantities for several decades and spread across several regions worldwide," the text in the paper said.
(Planet Ark, 27/12/2006)