FORATOM welcomes upcoming EU report on nuclear energy development

The European Atomic Forum (FORATOM) released a statement on Friday welcoming the European Commission (EC) plan to publish the "Illustrative Program for Nuclear Energy" by the end of 2015.

Such periodic EC reports are mandated by the Euratom Treaty to  indicate nuclear-production programs and targets and the corresponding investments that would be required to implement them.

FORATOM said nuclear energy has the potential to contribute to the three established objectives of European Union (EU) energy policy: competitively lower prices, reduced carbon emissions, and energy security and reliability. These factors have been recognized in a previous report from the EC in its "Policy Framework for Climate and Energy in the Period from 2020 to 2030."

The organization said the EU would need to maintain current nuclear-generating capacity through 2050, and FORATOM said that to do this, the EU would need to commission approximately 100 nuclear reactors over the next 35 years, with significant investments needed to upgrade current reactors to expand their life spans.

A position paper from FORATOM indicates actions that would be needed for the energy market to be able to retain and restore confidence for current and potential investors. Among these recommendations is that the EC, EU and individual countries remain supportive of long-term projects, as nuclear reactors can take a long time to build and launch operations.