nucleareurope presents European nuclear policy landscape at Norwegian Nuclear Association workshop

On 11 November 2024, nucleareurope Legal and International Relations Director Berta Picamal participated in a Norwegian Nuclear Association workshop which focused on gathering inputs for the elaboration of an action plan aimed at building national nuclear proficiency collaboration between Norwegian, Nordic, European, and international organisations.

The event, organised in the framework of the 2024 DigiDECOM conference, gathered participants from national, European and international nuclear associations and research centres to discuss current nuclear trends, best practices and collaboration opportunities, with a focus on strengthening international partnerships and identifying nuclear skills.

In her intervention, Berta detailed the changing political landscape at the European level, with a clear shift towards more support for nuclear. She highlighted that in many countries, opinion polls showed an increase in favourable views of nuclear energy, and that policies were also evolving at both national and European levels.

“The support for nuclear across Europe is reflected at the national level, with many Member States announcing plans to continue using nuclear or invest in new nuclear capacities, and at the European level, with recent policy evolutions such as the inclusion of nuclear in the sustainable finance taxonomy” said Berta, noting however that there were still some areas where nuclear was penalised compared to other net-zero technologies, especially in terms of access to funding and financing.

Berta concluded her presentation by noting that for the second time in just a few weeks, she had participated in a workshop on the development of nuclear for a country that does yet not produce nuclear energy, after a successful first of a kind event in Greece, another of many positive signs for the development of nuclear in Europe.