Nuclear Archives

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said he would convene a meeting of pro-nuclear EU countries on 4 March to discuss the launch of an “Important Project of Common Interest (IPCEI)” in the field of nuclear power.

Bulgaria is insisting on a fixed price for the construction of two new Westinghouse AR-1000 nuclear reactors, which should not exceed $14 billion, according to an intergovernmental agreement on nuclear cooperation between Bulgaria and the US signed in Sofia on Monday night.

Scientists in Britain announced Thursday (8 February) they had smashed a record for generating fusion energy in the final experiment using the Joint European Torus (JET) machines.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) will be partly relied upon to meet the EU's 2040 climate objectives, with an industrial alliance to be launched shortly and the first reactors deployed "by 2030", the European Commission announced on Tuesday (6 February).

The Council of EU member states and the European Parliament agreed on Tuesday (6 February) to label nuclear power as a strategic technology for the EU's decarbonisation, following months of intense negotiations in Brussels over the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA).

Czechia will welcome the construction of four nuclear power units at the existing Dukovany power plant instead of the one initially planned, the Czech government decided Thursday while confirming it will no longer pursue bidding talks with US power company Westinghouse.

Estonia plans to build a small modular reactor (SMR) to wean itself off the addiction to polluting oil shale and meet its target of producing 100% decarbonised electricity by 2030. A vote in Parliament is expected "in the first half of 2024," officials say.

France's draft energy sovereignty bill will not include any targets at all, at least for now, the office of French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has confirmed, responding to criticism about the bill's lack of consideration for renewables and over-emphasis on nuclear.

UK company Newcleo and French company NAAREA are set to form a strategic partnership to accelerate the development of their fourth-generation nuclear technologies, the two announced in an exclusive interview for Euractiv France, AFP and Le Figaro on Tuesday (16 January).

The French government reshuffle on Thursday (11 January) marked the end of the pairing of the Ecology and Energy Ministries, with commentators suggesting this marks a shift to an industrial conception of energy primarily focused on the relaunch of France's nuclear industry.

France's draft 'energy sovereignty' law, recently unveiled by the government, has caused quite a stir for its apparent dismissal of renewable energies, which are placed at the bottom of the list of low-carbon energies, behind nuclear.

Bulgaria’s state-owned Kozloduy NPP has filed a lawsuit requesting €250,000 in compensation, claiming civil activists Natalia Stancheva and Yordanka Kulinska distributed false information about the plant.

France and Czechia reiterated calls on Tuesday (9 January) for the European Commission to put nuclear power on an equal footing with renewable energies in all EU policies, putting traditional nuclear sceptic countries on the defensive.

France's main energy priorities for 2030 largely promote nuclear power as a way of ditching fossil fuels while failing to mention the EU's renewable energy targets.

French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher will be in Prague on Monday and Tuesday to make progress on Franco-Czech nuclear cooperation, particularly on the construction of new reactors.

Britain said it plans to spend 300 million pounds (€348 million) on a new programme to produce advanced nuclear fuel suitable for the next generation of power-generating reactors, seeking to dislodge Russia as the main international supplier.

France requires more than the six new nuclear plants currently planned and possibly needs to build more than 14 new plants, its energy minister said, just days before a parliamentary debate begins on the issue.

Eleven EU countries have called on the EU to take full account of "all fossil-free energy sources" when elaborating future energy and climate policies, according to a joint statement issued on Tuesday (19 December) by the French-led Nuclear Alliance.

France could soon build several nuclear reactors in Sweden, according to a letter of intent signed by the two countries' energy ministers on the sidelines of the EU's Energy Council on Tuesday (19 December).

The European Parliament backed the development of small nuclear reactors (SMRs) on Tuesday (12 December), a move welcomed by EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, who has already called for a rapid turnaround of EU initiatives on the matter.

France will give the green light to new investments in nuclear fusion, natural hydrogen, energy storage and carbon capture, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday (11 December).

Following in the footsteps of the European Parliament last month, EU member states in the Council have also included nuclear energy among the technologies promoted by the EU's Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), alongside renewables.

As the European Commission prepares to launch its industry alliance for small modular reactors, Euractiv France takes a closer look at the group's planned structure, work programme and remaining grey areas.

France and around twenty other countries signed a pledge to ‘triple nuclear energy capacity from 2020 by 2050’ at Dubai’s COP28 international gathering on Saturday.