Across the EU there is a growing view that nuclear power is one of the best ways to respond to the challenges of tackling climate change, both in terms of its low carbon dioxide emissions and its advantages for energy security. Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy, is the latest EU leader to call for a rethink of nuclear power.
The French government is planning to use the presidency to draw maximum advantage from this wave of increasing support for nuclear energy. Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the French state secretary for EU affairs, said recently that France was acting as a sort of “nuclear water tower”, ensuring nuclear-generated electricity to the rest of Europe thanks for its network of 50 reactors. But, Jouyet said, France could not be alone in bearing the “costs and consequences” of its leadership position in nuclear energy. There should be a reflection on Europe’s energy strategy, he said.
French hopes of ‘re-legitimising’ nuclear power received a boost at the end of May, when José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, praised nuclear power’s potential for a low carbon economy and security of supply.
By contrast, the recent problem at Slovenia’s nuclear plant led to a shutdown, raising old fears about the safety of nuclear energy.
But in Barcelona on 16 June, Andris Piebalgs, the European energy commissioner, said that nuclear power should take its “rightful place” in EU energy generation after the “turbulence” of the events in Slovenia. “We should be able to provide the public with full confirmation that their safety is of the highest performance,” he said.