An international coalition of activists began demonstrating outside the Atomium in Brussels at 08:00 on Thursday, to protest against the first Nuclear Energy Summit, Greenpeace EU announced in a press release.
The summit is currently being held at Brussels Expo and is being organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in collaboration with the Federal Government. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi are leading the meeting.
Various heads of state, nuclear industry leaders, experts and representatives of think tanks are in attendance, with the aim of considering ways of tripling the world's atomic capacity, as decided at COP28 in Dubai in December 2023, to help achieve the goal of zero net CO2 emissions by 2050. The summit is expected to adopt a joint declaration. Panel discussions are also scheduled.
Credit: Lorraine Turci / Greenpeace
The summit has sparked strong opposition from numbers organisations, however. Representatives of Greenpeace, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), 'Don't Nuke the Climate' and the International Association of Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War are demonstrating outside Brussels Expo on Thursday, blocking the main access routes to the summit and climbing different parts of the venue to display banners.
Their aim is to highlight that nuclear energy is a dangerous distraction from real climate solutions.
The anti-nuclear association 'Don't Nuke the Climate' specified that between 24 and 28 nuclear reactors would have to be connected to the electricity grid each year for 26 years to achieve this target, which is "completely unrealistic".
'Opposite of social and climate justice'
"Nuclear power is the opposite of social and climate justice," stressed one of the association's members Marc Alexander. "Promising to build a reactor in the next few years will do nothing to reduce emissions this decade, and will do nothing to help those struggling with fuel poverty. What's more, the threat of war and nuclear disaster is as imminent as ever."
Over 600 organisations from 65 countries signed a joint statement this week, calling on governments "not to waste time and money on a 'nuclear fairytale', but to instead develop safe sources of renewable energy." They say that the expansion of nuclear power is "nothing more than a fantasy" and that "nuclear power has not lived up to the hype of industry and political supporters."
Credit: Guillaume Chauvin / Greenpeace
"It is impossible to take politicians seriously when they talk about tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050," said Lorelei Limousin of Greenpeace EU. "Pretending that the nuclear industry can pull that off will only delay the whole energy transition. Why waste so much time and money on these nuclear fairytales when governments can achieve their climate and energy goals with energy savings and renewables?"
"All the evidence shows that nuclear power is too slow to build, too expensive, and it remains highly polluting and dangerous. We simply don't need nuclear energy. Governments should instead focus on investing in renewables and energy savings, and in real solutions that work for people like home insulation and public transport."
Van der Straeten takes a stand
Meanwhile, at a separate "alternative nuclear summit" on Thursday morning organised by the Flemish Association for a Better Environment Bond Beter Leefmilieu, Federal Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen) championed a "policy based on certainties". In doing so, she took a stand against De Croo and his simultaneous summit at Brussels Expo.
In her speech, Van der Straeten praised the Federal Government's investments in sustainable and renewable energy this legislature. "Belgium is second worldwide in terms of per capita wind energy," the Minister said.
In the future too, she believes that investing in sustainable and renewable energy sources should remain the common thread of Belgian energy policy. "Renewable energy gives us hope and gives us a glimpse of a bright future."
Federal Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten at Bond Beter Leefmilieu's "alternative nuclear summit" on Thursday. Credit: Belga
Van der Straeten was less enthusiastic about the parallel energy summit's intentions. In particular, she took issue with the idea that small modular reactors (SMRs) are the technology for the future, stressing that "we should not base policy on uncertainty."
In May, the Federal Government decided to invest €100 million in research into these SMRs. However, the reactors will not be installed until 2045. "Climate change is taking place right now. We cannot wait until then to address climate change," the Minister urged.
