EU Initiatives

In recent years, the EU has launched a number of initiatives which aim to foster a transparent and non-ideological debate on nuclear power. The ultimate goal is to establish the best conditions for the countries that have opted for nuclear power to carry out new build programmes in order to meet the targets of the 2007 Spring Council of 20% CO2 emission reduction and 20% renewable increase by 2020. The “clean” technologies include not only renewables, but also sustainable nuclear fission and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

The European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) was created in November 2007. It was initiated by the March 2007 European Council, when Member States suggested “that broad discussion takes place among all relevant stakeholders on the opportunities and risks of nuclear energy.” The Forum’s creation demonstrated the EU’s intention to treat nuclear power on a level footing with other major energy sources that have had similar forums for some time. ENEF provides advice to European policy makers, mainly in the European Institutions on: security of energy supply, incentives for investment, EU legislative issues, public opinion, R&D, knowledge management, safety and waste management. It works in collaboration with other newly-created bodies the Sustainable Nuclear Energy- Technology Platform (SNE-TP), and the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG).

ENSREG was set up by the European Commission, on 17 July 2007. The creation of the group was proposed by the Commission in its January 2007 draft Nuclear Illustrative Programme and was endorsed by the March European Council. The group is in charge of analysing matters such as the safety and decommissioning of nuclear installations and management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. The members of the group are senior nuclear safety regulators from member states. Countries with and without nuclear power equally take part in the group.

The Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (SNETP) was launched by the European Commission in September 2007. The SNETP aims to facilitate closer integration between researchers and industry to enable the definition and implementation of a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) and corresponding Deployment Strategy (DS), as well as to maintain Europe’s R&D leadership in the nuclear research sector. The draft SRA was presented to the General Assembly in November 2008 and is expected to be published in May 2009. The document is available at: www.snetp.eu. A second Technology Platform, the Implementing Geological Disposal Technology Platform (IGDTP) was established in November 2009 to cover research on radioactive waste disposal (http://www.igdtp.eu/).

On 13 November 2008, the European Commission (EC) published its second Strategic Energy Review (SER II) and an updated version of the PINC (Illustrative Nuclear Programme). The SER II and PINC documents outline the progress that has been made so far in mapping out the future of nuclear energy as a key component of the EU’s future low-carbon energy policy. Among the key messages to emerge from the publication of the SER II and the PINC – in particular from the updated PINC - are the need for sustained and rapidly allocated programme of investment in nuclear energy – in short, the need for a “balance between market investment decisions and regulation” in order to support the aim of nuclear energy accounting for “nearly two-thirds of the EU’s low-carbon electricity generation by the early 2020s.” The SER II was adopted by the European Parliament in March 2009. The SER II and the updated PINC can be consulted on the EC’s Europa web site.

On Wednesday 26 November 2008, the EC adopted a Proposal for a new Directive on nuclear safety. The Proposal, entitled Setting up a Community Framework for Nuclear Safety is the culmination of a lengthy discussion process involving a broad range of stakeholders, including national regulatory bodies, international organisations and ENEF. The general objective of the EC’s Proposal was “to achieve, maintain and continuously improve nuclear safety and its regulation in the Community and to enhance the role of the regulatory bodies.” On 25 June 2009 at an Environment Council in Luxembourg, the European Council adopted the Proposal. The European nuclear industry, in particular through its contribution to the work of ENEF, has played a significant role in the discussion process that the Directive endorses. Click here to read the Directive.

On 19 July 2011, in Brussels, the European Council adopted the Directive establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste proposed by the EC on 3 November 2010.The Directive establishes a first-ever Community-wide legal framework for the safe and sustainable management of the radioactive waste and spent fuel produced by Europe’s nuclear power plants. The Directive entered into force at the end of August 2011: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/nuclear/waste_management/waste_management_en.htm.