European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a new strategy to boost the development of advanced nuclear technology in the EU, calling Europe’s move away from nuclear power as a source of low-carbon and affordable energy over the past few decades a “strategic mistake” that has left the EU vulnerable to volatile and uncertain fossil fuel imports.
In a speech Tuesday at the Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris, von der Leyen called on the EU to focus on a combination of nuclear and renewable energy to provide “homegrown, low-carbon energy sources.”
Von der Leyen noted that a third of electricity in Europe in the 1990s came from nuclear, but that it has fallen to only around 15% today. The move away from nuclear was carried out by several states, with Italy, for example, closing its nuclear plants following a 1987 referendum, while Austria banned nuclear power entirely. Following Japan’s Fukushima disaster in 2011, German Chancellor Angela Merkel committed to shutting down all nuclear plants in Germany, a move that was completed in 2023.
Von der Leyen said:
“This reduction in the share of nuclear was a choice, I believe that it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power.”
In her speech, von der Leyen announced that launch of the new European Strategy for Small Modular Reactors, aimed at having small modular reactor (SMR) technology operational in Europe by the early 2030s.
SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that are substantially smaller than traditional nuclear power plants, providing benefits including faster build times and the ability to be deployed closer to the grid, while producing carbon-free energy.
The EU’s new SMR strategy includes several key measures, including the creation of “regulatory sandboxes” to enable companies to test innovative technology, working with member states to align rules across borders to enable Europe-wide deployment, and the creation of a €200 million guarantee mechanism, funded through the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), to support and de-risk private investment in innovative nuclear technologies.
Von der Leyen said:
“The nuclear tech race is on. But we know that Europe has everything it needs to lead. We have half a million highly skilled workers in nuclear – far more than the US and China. We lead global innovation in modular reactors. And now we have the ambition to move at speed and scale for Europe to be a global hub of next-generation nuclear energy.”
