A summit meeting was held on Tuesday morning in Paris for the 16 European countries of the Nuclear Alliance. Created at the initiative of the France, led by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister for Energy Transition, the Alliance aims to pool the know-how of the countries of the Union that have opted for the atom, to which is added the United Kingdom. Pooling of skills but also needs assessment.
See alsoThe France brings together its European allies in the nuclear sector
The European nuclear industry plans to create 2050,300 new direct, indirect and induced jobs in the European Union by 000. Taking into account retirements, the nuclear energy sector would recruit more than 450,000 employees in the Union over the next 30 years, including more than 200,000 highly qualified people.
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The European nuclear sector foresees an increase in the nuclear industry's contribution to GDP of an additional €92 billion [1.5% to 2% of the EU economy] and a trade surplus of €33 billion in the Union," the ministers added in their joint statement. This calculation takes into account the maintenance of a production capacity of 100 gigawatts by 2050, and a substantial reduction in fossil energy imports.
Development of small nuclear reactors
Ministers discussed the positive impact of nuclear energy on the European economy: they consider that "nuclear energy could provide up to 150 gigawatts (GW) of electricity capacity by 2050 to the European Union (compared to around 100 GW today). This represents the equivalent of 30 to 45 new large and small modular reactors (SMRs) in the EU." These new projects would also maintain the current 25% share of nuclear energy in EU electricity generation.
With this in mind, the UK is also increasing its civil nuclear deployment plans to 24 GW by 2050 (around 25% of its projected electricity demand), and has ambitious programmes for new large reactors and advanced nuclear reactors (including small modular reactors).
