No to the promotion of nuclear technology as part of Luxembourg’s economic development policy! Statement by Mouvement Ecologique on Draft Bill 8768 on the ‘Clean Industrial Deal’

Draft Bill 8768 transposes the so-called European ‘Clean Industrial Deal’ into Luxembourg law. The aim of this deal and the Luxembourg legislation is to establish a legal framework for state investment and funding to implement the energy transition in the industrial sector. The overarching goal: a net-zero-emissions economy. The draft bill was presented last week to Parliament’s ‘Commission économie’.

Mouvement Ecologique generally welcomes the fact that Luxembourg intends to make use of European opportunities to provide financial support for investments in production capacity for renewable energy and decarbonisation technologies – such as batteries, photovoltaics, wind power and heat pumps.

However, the Mouvement Ecologique is deeply concerned that the new version of ‘Annex 2’ of the draft – which provides a definitive list of eligible products, components and critical raw materials – explicitly classifies nuclear technologies as eligible ‘net-zero’ technologies: technologies relating to nuclear fission, the nuclear fuel cycle and other nuclear technologies such as nuclear fusion. Whilst these categories are derived from the EU framework, the EU explicitly leaves it to the Member States to decide for themselves which technologies they actually wish to support at national level. Luxembourg is therefore by no means obliged to include nuclear technologies. What is more troubling is that the drafters of the bill do not even openly state that the promotion of nuclear technology is to be permitted under the draft legislation. Indeed, this is not mentioned in the ‘Exposé des motifs’. The document refers exclusively to renewable technologies.

The Mouvement Ecologique highlights three key points of criticism:

1. Contradiction with the fundamental direction of energy policy: Luxembourg has no nuclear power of its own and – not least thanks to decades of civil society campaigning – has clearly positioned itself as a nuclear-free country in opposition to the Cattenom nuclear power station near the border. The national climate strategy (2020 Climate Act, PNEC) consistently focuses on renewable energies, not on nuclear energy.
2. Nuclear energy is not a ‘clean’ technology: Mouvement Ecologique disputes the implicit equating of nuclear energy with clean technologies, as unresolved issues regarding final disposal, proliferation, security of supply and significant safety and liability risks remain.
3. Misallocation of limited public funds: With a total budget of over 170 million euros by 2034 – although, according to the ‘Fiche financière’, not all projects could be covered even with this amount – these scarce resources should be directed exclusively towards genuinely forward-looking technologies, rather than potentially having to compete with nuclear projects.

Conclusion

Mouvement Ecologique supports the fundamental objective of the bill but strongly calls for the explicit exclusion of nuclear energy and other nuclear technologies from the text, so that financial resources and political attention are consistently directed towards genuinely renewable and energy-efficient technologies – in line with Luxembourg’s long-standing, broadly supported anti-nuclear stance.

The mere fact that this option is enshrined in law has a significant symbolic impact and makes it difficult for Luxembourg to credibly position itself as a nuclear-free country; it also risks leading to the misuse of financial resources.

You can read the full statement HERE.

06.07.26