nucleareurope discusses electricity and AI at FT Live Energy Policy Summit

On 4 November 2026, nucleareurope Director General Emmanuel Brutin participated in the Financial Times 2026 International Energy Policy Summit, which gathered policymakers, industry leaders and experts in Brussels to examine how Europe can build a more secure and resilient energy system.

In the framework of the event, Emmanuel intervened in the panel “Building the Electricity Backbone for Europe’s AI and Industrial Future”, moderated by Financial Times Natural Resources Editor Dan Thomas. The discussion examined how electricity infrastructure can be expanded and modernised while meeting growing demand from industry, transport and new AI data centre developments.

Emmanuel focused specifically on the issue of AI data centres, and stressed that as Europe pursues energy sovereignty, reliable access to affordable and decarbonised electricity is becoming vital. He added that data centres are a prime example of this: their energy consumption is relatively inflexible, making the steady, decarbonised output of nuclear power especially suited to their needs.

“The lifetime extension of existing nuclear facilities and construction of new plants are both needed to ensure that Europe’s expanding AI infrastructure does not undermine decarbonisation or overtax the electricity grid” noted Emmanuel, adding that the EU nuclear fleet currently provides approximately 100 Gigawatt (GW) of installed capacity, a figure projected to reach 150 GW by 2050.

Emmanuel then gave an overview of multiple recent partnerships signed between tech companies and the nuclear industry in the United States and in Europe. In Finland, for example, Google and Fortum recently concluded a long-term agreement supporting the lifetime extension and capacity upgrades of the Loviisa nuclear power plant through 2050.