Sometimes it’s quite good to see a concrete figure: €500 billion. This is the order of magnitude for investment in the new generation of nuclear power plants that EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton believes is necessary by 2050, as he told the Journal di Dimanche in an interview. Given the price history of nuclear power plants, the construction of which has rarely stayed on budget, this could be even more profound. But Breton, the go-getting commissioner whom critics like to accuse of being a French commissioner first and an EU commissioner second, is convinced of the need. So are parts of Europe and large sections of French politics, though not the German government, as the new Minister of the Environment Steffi Lemke made clear once again yesterday – though probably without consequence.