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State Aid for New Nuclear Power Plants under the Plethora of EU Environmental Regulations journal article

Sebastian J Kasper

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 21 (2022), Issue 3, Page 251 - 265

Climate change has become one of the critical matters of European Union (EU) Law. Hence, the EU Member States are about to transform their respective energy supplies from mainly fossil fuels to climate-neutral sources. This transformation process requires time, as the security of energy supply must be ensured (see Article 194(1)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). An approach favoured mainly by France and argued by several parties across Europe is to rely heavily on nuclear power and to invest in (new) nuclear reactors until 2050. Against this background, the question arises whether the EU Member States can support the transformation process by granting State aid for nuclear power plants despite the commonly known risks. Since the European Commission’s recently published Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy 2022 exclude nuclear energy from its scope, a broader review of the European Treaties, including the Euratom Treaty, as well as secondary and tertiary instruments, must be conducted to answer this question. Considering that nuclear energy has, following the Joint Research Centre’s risk assessment, recently been included in the Taxonomy Regulation for a transitionary period, granting State aid for nuclear reactors is likely to be still compatible with EU law upon the European Commission’s discretion, but not for long. Keywords: nuclear power; Taxonomy Regulation; Hinkley Point C; environmental protection; Euratom Treaty


PAKS II: State aid for Electricity in Hungary  · State aid Case SA.38454 Hungary Paks II nuclear power station · Annotation by Adina Claici and Norbert Maier journal article

Annotation on European Commission Decision (EU) 2017/2112 of 6 March 2017 on the measure/aid scheme/State aid SA.38454 — 2015/C (ex 2015/N).

Adina Claici, Norbert Maier

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 18 (2019), Issue 1, Page 76 - 83

This article describes a recent State aid case that advances the boundaries in the analysis of the Market Economy Investor Principle beyond the level of complexity reached in previous cases. In 2017 the European Commission approved the aid to Paks II nuclear power station in Hungary following an in-depth investigation. We highlight the most original pieces of economic analysis and financial modelling that contributed to the decision. Among others, the Commission used multiple benchmarking methodologies to estimate the profitability of the investment and the parameters of the financial model. Furthermore, a complex probabilistic model ensured robustness of the results. Finally, we explain the reasoning provided by the Commission when rebutting some of the assumptions put forward by Hungary. Keywords: State aid; MEIP; Nuclear power; Hungary.

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