nucleareurope discusses supply chain at Bulatom event in the European Parliament

On 21 May, nucleareurope Communications and Advocacy Director Jessica Johnson participated in an event on nuclear energy organised in the European Parliament by MEP Tsvetelina Penkova and the Bulgarian Atomic Forum (Bulatom). Jessica intervened at the end of the event to provide concluding remarks and highlight key takeaways from the discussions.

In her remarks, she highlighted the public opinion and political shift on nuclear, with its benefits for decarbonisation, security of supply and competitiveness becoming clear for an increasing number of member States. She however noted that one of the takeaways from the discussion is also that industry needs to implement lessons learnt from past projects to deliver new build on time and on budget. She also stressed that the supply chain will play a key role in the development of nuclear capacities in Europe.

“As mentioned by participants, we need to ensure that European supply chain actors operate on a level playing field. This is essential for European energy and industrial sovereignty. In this respect, upcoming policies will play a major role in providing a conducive framework for investments” stressed Jessica, specifically mentioning the Nuclear Illustrative Programme (PINC) and the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Noting that ramping up the European nuclear supply chain cannot happen overnight, Jessica concluded her intervention by calling on institutional actors and industry to work together for the development of a supportive regulatory framework, in order to ensure that Europe can safeguard its energy security by deploying sufficient domestic nuclear capacity.