EU Commission to launch industry alliance on small nuclear reactors

The EU’s Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson backed the development of an industrial alliance on small modular reactors at the 16th European Nuclear Energy Forum in Bratislava on Tuesday (7 November).

Read the original French article here.

Unlike renewables, nuclear power is not consensual among EU member states, even though it is a clean energy source which produces nearly zero emissions.

This reluctance was also reflected in the European Commission, which pointed to the high cost of new nuclear plants and the long time it takes to build them.

That started changing last year, when a French-led ‘nuclear alliance’ regrouping more than a dozen EU countries started turning the tide, spurred by the EU’s objective to reach climate neutrality by 2050.

French efforts seemingly paid off this week when Simson supported the launch of an industrial alliance for small modular reactors (SMRs) in Bratislava.

“Today, I can confirm that the Commission will carry out all the preparatory work with a view to launching the Industrial Alliance in the coming months”, Simson said in a speech on Tuesday, sparking enthusiasm among pro-nuclear advocates.

Two years ago, the Commission had already set up a “European SMR pre-partnership” bringing together the sector’s manufacturers, researchers, regulatory bodies, and possible customers.

A few days before the Bratislava event, 12 EU energy ministers had also exerted pressure by sending a joint letter to the European Commission calling for “the creation of an ‘industrial alliance’ for SMRs at the EU level”.

This was also the main message of the “nuclear alliance” meeting held on the fringes of this week’s European Nuclear Energy Forum at the initiative of the Slovak and French energy ministers, Denisa Sakova and Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

Shift in rhetoric

With Simson’s endorsement, the European Commission seems to have shifted its rhetoric on nuclear power.

“This time last year, we were deep in the energy crisis,” she said. “One year on, a lot has changed. Today, the conversation around nuclear energy – not only in Europe but also worldwide – has shifted,” she explained.

In her view, nuclear power is now seen as a means of ensuring the “security of power supply” at stable prices, achieving the “ambitious climate and energy targets” set at the EU level, and maintaining “Europe’s technological leadership and strategic energy autonomy”.

“For all these reasons, since 2022, the Commission has been involved in setting up a European SMR Partnership,” the Commissioner added.

Over the past few years, the Commission has launched several industrial alliances – on batteries, solar energy and hydrogen, notably – bringing together governments, researchers and civil society representatives to foster the development of clean technologies in Europe.

Work typically involves the creation of a favourable regulatory environment for “made in Europe” industries, as well as sharing skills and knowledge for the development, maintenance, and construction of new infrastructure.

On solar, for instance, the objective is to “create full solar PV value chains” in Europe and “reduce our dependencies” on imported solar panels from China, said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.

In Bratislava, Pannier-Runacher stressed that some 300,000 jobs are expected to be created in the nuclear industry by 2050.

At the end of April, Renaud Crassous, chairman of EDF Nuward’s SMR subsidiary, told Euractiv France that it was necessary for “national safety authorities and regulators to accept the equivalence of certain rules”.

In other words, an alliance could help to facilitate discussions on this issue and even help the EU gain a foothold in the face of global competition, especially from China and the United States, which has forged partnerships with Romania and Czechia to launch a first US-made SMR there before 2030.

Convincing von der Leyen

Question marks remain regarding the support of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has expressed scepticism about nuclear in the past, saying she did not see it as a “strategic” technology for Europe’s decarbonisation.

Opposition can also be expected from member states traditionally opposed to nuclear power, notably Austria and Germany.

But French lawmaker Christophe Grudler, who heads a European Parliament intergroup on nuclear energy, said the project is “feasible”, expressing optimism about the Commission’s support on Tuesday.

France, meanwhile, has made its position clear, with Pannier-Runacher arguing that the EU must put nuclear on an equal footing with renewables, both technically and politically.

It must also do so financially by facilitating the use of funding from EU institutions such as the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, she argued.

“European funding must be equalised between nuclear and renewable energy,” Pannier-Runacher said alongside her Slovakian counterpart.

France’s intentions are clear: “to build the roadmap for the next European Commission and to implement these new public policies” and to confirm that “Europe is in the process of changing its nuclear policy”.

[Edited by Frédéric Simon/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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