Documents - Think Tank - European �Ϸ��վ

Briefing - Outcome of the meetings of EU leaders, 21-22 March 2024 - 02-04-2024

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 22:00:00 GMT

At the March European Council meeting, discussions focussed on the war in Ukraine, security and defence, the Middle East and enlargement. With a new sense of urgency, EU leaders reiterated their steadfast support for Ukraine, calling on the Council to rapidly adopt an eighth support package for Ukraine. Regarding security and defence, they agreed on the need to increase defence readiness and boost the defence industry, but did not agree on ways of promoting the defence sector. On the Middle East, EU leaders finally agreed on a common message, notably calling for an ‘immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire’. On enlargement, they decided to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. EU leaders also adopted conclusions on migration, agriculture and the European Semester. The meeting was followed by a Euro Summit.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Briefing - Strategic autonomy and the future of nuclear energy in the EU - 29-02-2024

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 23:00:00 GMT

Nuclear energy and the promise of cost-effective small modular reactors (SMRs) is high on the EU's policy agenda, against the backdrop of a difficult global geopolitical context and the Union's energy security and climate ambitions. The EU is building a comprehensive strategy for the development and deployment of SMRs, acknowledging their potential benefits and challenges. Innovative nuclear technologies are of significant strategic value, with major steps being taken to increase the supply of advanced nuclear fuels and research and innovation capacities in this area.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Briefing - Nuclear energy in the European Union - 06-09-2023

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 22:00:00 GMT

According to Article 194(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, each Member State independently decides on its own energy mix and use of nuclear energy. However, there are common rules and standards on nuclear energy, the basis for which is the Treaty on the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom Treaty) signed in 1957. All current EU Member States are party to it and it has remained largely unchanged throughout the years. Common EU rules also stem from the Nuclear Safety Directive and Directive for the Management of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel. Currently, 12 out of 27 EU Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden) host nuclear power plants on their territory. Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Portugal do not produce nuclear power. Just recently, Germany decided to completely phase out nuclear energy production. In 2021, nuclear energy made up 13 % of Europe's energy mix and accounted for 25 % of all electricity produced. The debate on nuclear energy in the EU focuses on both opportunities and challenges. Small modular reactors (SMRs) are often seen as offering potential solutions to energy supply issues and are likely to become a commercially viable nuclear product by the early 2030s. SMRs could be used for district heating, desalination, heat processing for energy-intensive industries and hydrogen production. One of the main challenges is dependency on Russian nuclear technology, uranium and fuel supplies. Although many countries are trying to diversify their fuel supply, recent research estimates that, in some cases, the dependency is unlikely to decrease. Another important challenge is high-level nuclear waste and spent fuel management. The solution appears to be deep geological disposals that should open in the EU between 2024 and 2035. Different groups of countries – branded as either the 'nuclear alliance' or the 'friends of renewables'– regularly argue about the role of low carbon energy sources (produced from nuclear) in the green transition and, consequently, in various pieces of energy and climate legislation. Those discussions are likely to continue as new legislative proposals emerge.

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

At a Glance - What if we could make nuclear fusion work? - 07-07-2023

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 22:00:00 GMT

If it is to achieve the Paris Agreement objective of keeping the rise in global temperature well below 2° C, the EU must consider every possible technology to decarbonise energy production. Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the sun and it can be reproduced on Earth. However, even once the considerable engineering challenges of designing a fusion power plant are overcome, there are major constraints inherent in upscaling fusion power.

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Briefing - ITER - 26-09-2017

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 09:33:08 GMT

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project is a major global collaborative scientific experiment aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of nuclear fusion as an unlimited and relatively clean source of energy. The EU Member States participate by virtue of their membership of Euratom. Work on the site in France (Cadarache) began in 2007, but since then the expected final cost and year of completion have been revised upwards a number of times. It is now hoped that 'first plasma', the point at which the ITER device is deemed operational, will be achieved by 2025.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Briefing - How the EU budget is spent: Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation - 14-07-2017

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 10:31:17 GMT

The EU's Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC) was created to help promote a high level of nuclear safety, radiation protection, and safeguards for nuclear material outside the EU. It does this by funding peer support for, and technical assistance to, third countries that are managing or in the process of developing nuclear power. EU cooperation in the field of nuclear energy dates back to the EU's post-war beginnings, but financial assistance to non-EU countries only began in the 1990s, with the TACIS programme to help the countries that emerged from the former Soviet Union to manage their nuclear legacy.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Briefing - Nuclear decommissioning assistance - 05-04-2017

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 13:08:04 GMT

Following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the EU launched several nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes (NDAP) to help Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Slovakia safely close and dismantle their early Soviet-designed reactors while acceding to the EU. The NDAPs provide financial assistance for decommissioning, dismantling and waste management projects; energy-sector projects aimed at mitigating the consequences of reactor shutdowns; and projects addressing the socio-economic consequences of decommissioning. The European Commission estimates that between 1999 and 2020, financial support for the NDAP programmes will total approximately €3.8 billion.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Study - ITER, Fusion Energy and European Energy Scenarios - 16-05-2011

Tue, 07 Jan 2014 17:12:14 GMT

The aim of the workshop was to present the future energy scenarios in Europe beyond 2050 with a focus on fusion energy including ITER and alternative approaches. The invited speakers explored European and global energy supply needs and its forecasts as well as the main features of the ITER nuclear fusion research project, its technological capacities, potential and limits, and its environmental impact. The workshop was organised in view of a joint delegation of the Committees on Budgets and on Budgetary Control to the ITER site Cadarache, France, in May 2011.

Source : © European Union, 2011 - EP

Study - Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems - Their Possible Safety and Proliferation Risks - 15-11-1999

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:56:42 GMT

This study aims at identifying and assessing the safety and proliferation risks that new nuclear energy systems might pose, and making policy recommendations based on this assessment. The basic physical ideas within relevant nuclear research areas are outlined and their major research goals described, with special emphasis on projects within the Specific Programmes 'Nuclear Fission' and 'Thermonuclear Fission' of the Euroatom Fifth Framework Programme Criteria for the assessment of safety risks are described, and criteria for the assessment of proliferation risks are presented. The implications for EU policy making are then outlined.

Source : © European Union, 1999 - EP

Study - A Nuclear Amplifier for Energy for Electricity Production - 01-06-1999

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:20:22 GMT

The nuclear Energy Amplifier (EA) proposed in 1993 by Professor Carlo Rubbia, Nobel prize, is an original hybrid nuclear reactor made of a fast subcritical nuclear reactor driven by a high energetic and intense proton accelerator which could be at the same time basically a safe electricity producer and could also bum almost completely its own nuclear waste as well as other reactors ones. It found a number of echoes in Europe, in particular in Spain, Italy and France, as well as in the European Commission, in the European �Ϸ��վ and in the World. The whole technology of the EA includes several components which are separately well mastered by the nuclear energy industry and the nuclear research community but with a number of innovative improvements which may present implementation and reliability difficulties. Many technological options are still open, and there is a need for more R&D. Experts largely agree that the EA could not produce electricity at a competitive price, and that the EA technology should not be aimed mainly to electricity production. EA could be an option for buming Actinides and other nuclear fission products, electricity being an interesting by-product of the reactor. In Europe, Italy, France and Spain have taken a first tripartite- initiative and are open to larger cooperation. Should Europe invest in this domain, and how? Should a research demonstrator be launched in short or medium term? This report addresses these points and propose orientation options to the European �Ϸ��վ.

Source : © European Union, 1999 - EP

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