Brussels will launch industrial alliance on mini-nuclear reactors on Feb. 6, along with 2040 climate target

Brussels–The European Commission will officially launch the much-awaited Industrial Alliance on Mini Nuclear Reactors on February 6, when the College will also present its communication on the 2040 interim climate target. “We are working to set our new intermediate climate target. We will prioritize renewables, but we will need all other low-carbon technologies that can help us cut emissions,” European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson recently said at a panel discussion of the Davos Economic Forum.

“The ambitious target, to be unveiled in the coming weeks, will be accompanied by an industrial strategy for carbon removal. We will launch the industrial alliance for mini nuclear reactors (small modular reactors, SMR). All these technologies are essential in the decade beyond 2030,” Simson said. According to the Board of Commissioners’ latest agenda, the 2040 climate target is on the February 6 agenda.

There has been talk in Brussels for months on the EU Industrial Alliance on mini-nuclear reactors. The European Commission notes a growing interest of several member states in nuclear technologies in some EU countries and their potential role in achieving climate neutrality goals by mid-century. To fully exploit the potential of mini-nuclear reactors, it has promised the launch of a true alliance with industrial parties. According to the latest available Eurostat data, nuclear power plants generated about 21.8 percent of the total electricity generated in the EU in 2022. There were 13 countries with operational reactors (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden).

Small modular reactors (small modular reactors) are nuclear reactors smaller in both power and physical size than conventional gigawatt-scale power plants, ranging from 10 to 300 MegaWatts. They are based on existing technologies and designed to be factory-built in standard modular form. Their main advantage is that they can be assembled in the factory and then shipped and installed on-site, even in remote areas with limited grid capacity or where the use of large conventional nuclear power plants is impossible. These types of reactors use nuclear fission reactions to create heat for direct use or to generate electricity and have recently returned to the center of political debate in the EU amid the energy crisis with Russia and to diversify sources of supply. Between now and 2050, the EU estimates it will need to invest between 350 and 450 billion euros in new nuclear capacity to replace decommissioned units and maintain roughly the same as today’s generating capacity. A renewed interest by many member states, including Italy, emerged since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and because of the need to free itself from energy imports from Moscow.