France has announced it is open to UAE investment in its nuclear power.
According to “Europeyska Pravda”, Reuters informs about this.
The Minister of Finance of the country, Bruno Le Maire, announced that he will hold negotiations in the UAE to find out whether this Persian Gulf country is interested in investing in French nuclear energy. .
According to him, there are many opportunities for investments from the UAE side, in particular in the company Orano, the majority stake of which belongs to the state.
“We are open to such cooperation”, – noted Le Maire, who was in Abu Dhabi to sign a strategic partnership with the UAE in the field of artificial intelligence.
French state energy company EDF intends to build and operate six new nuclear reactors in France, while the government is ready to allocate this is tens of billions of euros in funding.
Sources previously told Reuters that the UAE nuclear power company wanted to become a minority investor in overseas nuclear infrastructure facilities without taking over the management or operation of these facilities.
Le Maire also said that France is ready to provide assistance to the UAE if the Gulf state decides to expand its own nuclear energy.
“If there is an opportunity to expand cooperation with the UAE in the nuclear field, we are ready for it,” – he said.
Earlier, the Slovak government approved a plan to build another nuclear reactor in a country that relies heavily on nuclear energy.
Recall that in November 12 member states of the European Union called on the European the commission to create an industrial union for small modular nuclear reactors – analogues of nuclear power plants, which, thanks to their smaller size, can be installed in more places.
The aforementioned states previously formed an alliance of European countries that support nuclear energy, arguing that it will help achieve the EU's goals of reducing dependence on fossil fuels &ndash ; in particular, the Russian one.
At the same time, some EU states, such as Germany, oppose the additional expansion of nuclear power plants.