July 2016

e-Bulletin is FORATOM's monthly external newsletter. It provides a wrap-up of what happened recently in the nuclear sector in Europe and of EU institutional developments related to nuclear.

FORATOM members to cooperate to further nuclear development in UK and France

The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) and the French Nuclear Society, SFEN, which are both members of FORATOM, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris on 29 June 2016, committing to work together to further the nuclear sector in both the UK and France.

FORATOM backs mandatory transparency register for interest groups

FORATOM responded to the consultation launched by the European Commission on a mandatory transparency on 1 June 2016. FORATOM considers that the transparency register is an essential tool to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of EU stakeholders and that it should evolve towards a mandatory scheme covering the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission.

Swedish energy agreement paves the way for nuclear new build

The Swedish government decided on 10 June to lift its moratorium on nuclear new build. The replacement of nuclear reactors will be allowed at existing nuclear sites as they reach the end of their operational duration with a maximum of ten reactors. This will help secure electricity supply until the country switches to 100% renewables in 2040. Moreover the government decided to abolish the nuclear tax by 2019, which will give breathing pace for nuclear companies to invest in nuclear new build and long-term operation.

Nuclear must be part of the solution to climate change, says Institut Montaigne

The Institut Montaigne, a French Think Tank, published in june a report, which urges the European Union to consider nuclear as an integral part of the solution to the fight against climate change. "Nuclear, which has already avoided the emission of 60 billion tons of CO2 in 50 years, must be part of the solution together with renewables", the report says.

BREXIT

NIA comments on the vote to leave the EU

Commenting on the result of the referendum, and decision of the UK electorate to leave the European Union, Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association said: “The UK’s nuclear industry operates globally, with strong and long-standing business connections, both in Europe and further afield. While the implications of the vote to leave the EU, and subsequent negotiations, will be being assessed both by the UK Government and European Union, we must not lose sight of the fact that we have significant challenges to replace retiring electricity generation plant, to improve our energy security and to reduce carbon emissions, and that has not changed as a result of the referendum.”

"In the electricity sector, security of supply still requires baseload power. We know that the make-up of this baseload cannot go unchanged. Within the next two decades, virtually all of our existing nuclear fleet is due to retire. And within the next ten years, our goal is to phase out entirely the use of unabated coal," Andrea Leadsom, minister of state at the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on 6 July 2016 (source: WNN)

“We remain committed to new nuclear power in the UK – to provide clean, secure energy. Government has prepared the ground for a fleet of new nuclear stations. Three consortia have proposals to develop 18GW of new power stations at six new sites across the UK. These will support more than 30,000 jobs across the nuclear supply chain over the coming years.” Amber Rudd, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, on 29 June 2016 (source: DECC)

A pro-Brexit coalition likely to threaten low-carbon push in UK, says OECD expert

Video

New market design needed to foster low-carbon push, says OECD expert

Publications

Energy technology perspectives 2016

The new edition of the International Energy Agency (IEA) report entitled Energy Technology Perspectives urges policy-makers “to encourage long-term operation of the existing (nuclear) fleet and construction of new plants, given their vital contribution to GHG emissions reductions, as well as their contribution to energy security.”