European Business Nuclear Alliance organises jubilee meeting
On Wednesday 5 February, nucleareurope Director General participated in the European Business Nuclear Alliance jubilee meeting, organised in Warsaw by Polish business confederation Lewiatan. The event brought together business representatives, institutional stakeholders and international partners involved in the development of the nuclear sector to discuss the role of nuclear energy in the European economy and its importance for industrial competitiveness and energy security.
As part of the event, Emmanuel gave a keynote address on nuclear energy in the EU, focusing on planned investments and supply chain questions, before participating in a panel discussion entitled “The renaissance of nuclear energy. How to support human resources and local supply chain companies?”
In his address, Emmanuel noted that installed nuclear capacity in the EU is set to grow from around 100 Gigawatts (GW) today to close to 150 GW by 2050. He stressed that this represents significant investments across the whole nuclear value chain.
“The foreseen increase in nuclear investments is good news for the industry and for the European energy system as a whole. It is now important to develop an enabling policy framework to support the ramp up of the domestic supply chain capacity” highlighted Emmanuel, noting that the nuclear supply chain is one of the few net zero value chains almost entirely based in Europe.
During the panel discussion, Emmanuel built on his initial intervention, detailing the industry’s policy needs. He added that beyond the supply chain topic, questions of attractiveness, workforce and skills will also play a key role in enabling the industry to deliver on planned investments.
Emmanuel concluded his intervention by highlighting the role of European nuclear fuel cycle companies, and noting their importance for energy sovereignty. He stressed that the policy framework must support the ramp up of domestic nuclear fuel cycle manufacturing capacity to respond to growing demand.