A nuclear power project must have a construction permit issued by 2045 and plans “with detailed steps” to have in operation, by 2050, a disposal facility for high-level radioactive waste if it is to be considered as sustainable under the European Union’s taxonomy rules, a draft regulation by the European commission says.

The regulation, which lays out the commission’s plans to include nuclear and gas in the taxonomy, says a country proposing a nuclear project must have final disposal facilities for all very low-, low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste.

A country should have a radioactive waste management fund and a nuclear decommissioning fund which can be combined and must demonstrate that it will have resources available at the end of the estimated useful life of the nuclear power plant corresponding to the estimated cost of radioactive waste management and decommissioning.

The regulation has not been officially published, but a leaked copy has been widely circulated.