FORATOM supports EU's State of the Energy Union report

The European Atomic Forum (FORATOM), an advocacy group for Europe's nuclear energy industry, released a statement this week in support of the State of the Energy Union report issued by the European Union's (EU) European Commission.

In the statement, FORATOM said the European nuclear energy industry supports the Energy Union’s goals of facilitating competitiveness and working toward implementing more low-carbon-emitting electricity-generation methods.

The Energy Union report said nuclear energy has been a large part of global economies, including the European Union (EU), Canada and Brazil. The report also said that approximately 27 percent of EU electricity is generated through nuclear means and that nuclear generation makes up approximately 53 percent of low-carbon generation.

“2016 will be the year in which we will lay the foundations of a robust governance system bringing predictability and transparency, which is what investors need,” European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said.

In the commission’s report, nuclear energy is recognized as a key component for meeting the region’s carbon reduction goals by 2030. At a minimum, FORATOM said current nuclear capacity should be maintained through 2050 and would necessitate the construction and operation of approximately 100 plants over a period of 35 years. The organization also said it looks forward to the “Illustrative Programme for Nuclear Energy," set to be published in 2016, and expects the report to view nuclear power as an important player in the growing low-carbon economy.