The European Commission is endorsing nuclear energy as a viable option to the bloc’s ambition to reach climate neutrality by 2050, ensuring grid stability when wind and solar can’t cover demand, EU officials said on Tuesday, bringing back a dormant scenario in which risk and environmental concerns may haunt European countries.
The EU plan to roll out small nuclear reactors (SMRs) by the early 2030s is designed to provide low-carbon electricity and heat while also decarbonising and lowering energy costs for heavy industries such as steel and chemicals.
But many environmentalists argue that the technology is unproven, expensive and risky, especially compared to renewable sources, which are easy to deploy.
Several EU countries like Austria, Ireland, and Portugal have distanced themselves from nuclear ambitions, but many others are betting on a nuclear renaissance. Eleven EU countries backed a declaration at a 2024 landmark conference hailing nuclear power as an enabler of energy security and sovereignty and pledging “enhanced cooperation” on SMRs.
Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden were among the signatories of the declaration, which called on regulators to “fully unlock” the potential of nuclear and to “enable financing conditions” to support the lifetime extension of existing nuclear reactors.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has recently described Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power under former Chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz as a major error, arguing that it has led to high energy prices and insufficient power generation capacity.
While Merz has acknowledged that the plants that have already shut down and been dismantled cannot realistically be restarted, he is advocating for a return to nuclear energy through SMRs.
“It was a serious strategic mistake to depart from nuclear energy. If it was going to be done, they should have at least left the last remaining nuclear power plants in Germany connected to the grid three years ago,” Merz told German media in January.
Similar arguments were made by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris on Tuesday.
“While in 1990 one-third of Europe’s electricity came from nuclear, today it is only close to 15 percent,” she said. “This reduction in the share of nuclear was a choice. I believe that it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power.”
On the same day, Rafael Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Director General, hailed the landmark 2024 summit in Brussels as the moment when “this path of reflection began,” noting that “nuclear won’t be the dominating factor” but part of an “intelligent integrated system”.
Market-based succcess
SMRs differ significantly from traditional nuclear plants in that they are factory-built with components compact enough to transport by truck or barge for assembly on site. Nuclear waste and safety issues remain a general concern, yet the Commission nonetheless wants to accelerate deployment and is framing the SMR rollout as an industrial project.
The new strategy proposes streamlined procedures for the approval of SMRs, including cooperation among EU countries on regulatory oversight.
“The successful deployment of SMRs will largely depend on the creation of a strong market demand and a conducive business environment. The increasing need across various industries to electrify and decarbonise their production will be a significant driver,” reads the Commission strategy.
At Tuesday’s event, Von der Leyen unveiled a €200 million guarantee to back private investment in innovative nuclear technologies with resources coming from the bloc’s carbon market, the Emissions Trading System.
“Not only will we derisk investments in these low-carbon technologies, we also want to give a clear signal for other investors to join,” said von der Leyen.
Commissioner for Energy Dan Jørgensen maintained that high energy prices are linked to the bloc’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, which exposes the region to global volatility as the crisis in the Middle East has shown.
“Accelerating investment in energy infrastructure and supporting innovative clean technologies such as SMRs marks another important milestone in lowering energy bills,” the Danish Commissioner said.
More than 10 EU countries have expressed interest in developing and deploying SMRs over the next decade in their national energy and climate plans, the EU executive said, with some countries already securing commercial partnerships.
Czech power company CEZ has signed a deal with Britain’s Rolls-Royce SMR to form a strategic partnership to develop and deploy SMRs, while Poland’s first SMR will be built in Włocławek under an agreement between the country’s energy company Orlen and Synthos Green Energy.
Boasting of massive industrial capacity under development in his own country, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said there’s a legitimate debate in Budapest about where the huge energy demand will come from. He said visits to the United States and Canada had opened his government’s eyes to the possibilities that mini-nukes can bring about.
“They’re already building one (small modular reactors) in Ontario, which we’re following closely to learn from it,” Orbán told local media in November 2025. “The goal is to obtain small nuclear power plant technology, which will enable us to continuously supply cheap energy – whether connected to the grid or not – to the huge industrial developments currently underway in Hungary.”
Unlike Hungary, Ireland doesn’t consider nuclear generation a pathway to future energy needs. Irish law bars the development of nuclear fission-based electricity generation, while the country is proud of its successful performance on offshore wind, which currently provides 33 percent of its electricity supply.
“Globally, there has been renewed interest and investment in nuclear technologies, including SMRs, and these issues are actively under discussion at EU level. Ireland is tracking these developments and engaging constructively in EU, UK, and international fora as a responsible member state committed to high standards of safety and environmental protection,” a spokesperson from the Irish Department of Energy, Climate, and the Environment told Euronews.
However, Dublin also recognises that nuclear energy plays a significant role in the electricity mix of several of our closest neighbours, as each EU country is free to decide on its energy mix.
One EU diplomat expressed uncertainty about how helpful the SMRs strategy small would be.
“The plan itself is a bit vague for now, so we will have to wait and see how it is actually implemented,” the diplomat told Euronews.
Environmental watchdogs are more pessimistic.
Nuclear Transparency Watch (NTW), an organisation dedicated to transparency, public participation, and democratic decision-making in nuclear activities, alongside the green group Environmental Europe Bureau (EEB) stressed the risks, inefficiencies, and democratic deficits associated with SMR development.
“(We) encourage the EU to prioritise renewable energy, energy efficiency, and demand-side solutions – technologies that are proven, cost-effective, and aligned with climate goals – rather than investing in unproven and high-risk nuclear technologies,” reads a NTW and EEB joint statement.
Tom Lewis, Energy Policy Coordinator at the environmental organisation Climate Action Network Europe, said the EU’s strategy on SMRs risks diverting attention, resources, and political momentum away from the proven solutions, such as wind and solar.
“The announcement of new de-risking instruments runs the risk of public money being used to distort private funding away from more realistic, lower-cost solutions such as renewables, storage, and demand side solutions,” Lewis said.
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