At a meeting in the margins of the Energy Council, member countries of the Nuclear Alliance signed a joint declaration urging the European Commission (EC) to recognise the contribution of both nuclear and renewables in Europe’s decarbonisation policy. The European Nuclear Alliance comprises Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden, plus Belgium and Italy as observers. Poland and Hungary did not sign the declaration.
It noted: “In a changing global geopolitical context, the upcoming 2024-29 Commission’s mandate must ensure the competitiveness and resilience of our economies towards reaching climate-neutrality by 2050 and to address the ‘existential challenge’ that Europe is facing.”
The declaration added: “Nuclear energy, alongside renewable energy, is a cost-competitive solution to meet the growing demand for fossil-free electricity and mitigate climate change, thanks to its low-carbon footprint. Nuclear energy is the ready-available fossil-free technology able to produce consistent baseload dispatchable power, ensuring both our collective security of supply and the necessary flexibility in our electricity market.”
In March, the European Nuclear Alliance set out four pillars of action for “an enabling European framework to foster a robust European nuclear industry and guarantee the security of supply of nuclear materials, particularly nuclear fuel, for power and non-power uses”.
These included: developing access to private and public financing, and exploring the possibilities and benefits of European financing instruments; developing a skilled and diverse nuclear workforce for all civil nuclear applications; scaling-up industrial, research and innovation collaboration across a European value chain through concrete projects; and respecting the national choices of all member states with regards to the decarbonisation of their energy mix to strengthen our unity.
“We commit to intensify our cooperation within the Alliance, with all other like-minded EU member states and with the European Commission on these four pillars,” the joint statement noted.
“The benefits of existing and future nuclear power plants go beyond the borders of member states which opt for nuclear energy. Indeed, low-carbon baseload energies such as hydro or nuclear power stabilise our common grid and the entire European electricity market. Nuclear energy as well as renewables are true collective assets for the European Union. Due to its baseload profile and low operating costs, nuclear power production creates less volatile market conditions. Without such energies, there is no path for the EU to provide to its citizens affordable, reliable and abundant low-carbon energy while achieving net-zero by 2025.”
Meanwhile, French Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Dutch Minister for Climate Policy & Green Growth, Sophie Hermans signed a nuclear cooperation agreement. According to AFP, the ministers intend to establish strategic cooperation covering various aspects of nuclear energy aiming to deepen energy collaboration, following an initial agreement signed in April 2023. Agnès Pannier-Runacher’s office said the agreement is not legally binding but a political commitment to work together on all areas related to nuclear energy.
Cooperation will cover safety agencies, research and development, nuclear waste management, the decommissioning of old plants, nuclear fuel supply, as well as training and the development of human resources. This agreement aims to strengthen the European nuclear alliance.
