Nuclear energy and civil society conference at the European Parliament

🗓 17.10 : Nuclear Transparency Watch (NTW) was invited at the European Parliament in Brussels 🇪🇺 for a conference on nuclear energy ☢ in Europe from a civil society 👥 perspective.

📄 Based on the Aarhus Convention and on the Environmental Democracy principles, this event co-organised by NTW with the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and the member of NTW and Italian MEP, Dario Tamburrano (The Left) was introduced with a presentation from Yves Marignac (Institut Négawatt) on the management of nuclear risks in nuclear energy transition scenarios:

20241017-NTW-NuclearEnergyEurope-YvesMarignac

The roundtable introducing the debate welcome the following speakers: ⤵
☑ Luke Haywood (Policy Manager on Climate and Energy policy at the European Environmental Bureau)
☑ Lorelei Limousin (Campaigner at Greenpeace Brussels)
☑ Dario Tamburrano (Member of the European Parliament)
☑ Nadja Zeleznik (Chair of Nuclear Transparency Watch)

The main safety concerns reported in the presentation from Yves Marignac were related to the following topics:
1️⃣ Lifetime extensions of nuclear power plants
The oldest operating European reactor is 55 years old and located in Beznau (Switzerland) therefore, there aren’t any experience for programme of lifetime extension to 80 or 60 years.
2️⃣ New reactors
Sovereignty concerns on Europe’s capacity to provide reactors were reported with questions related to the industrial and financial
capacities to manage many projects.
3️⃣ Fuel and waste management
New nuclear implies enrichment and fuel fabrication capacities as well as adjusted storage and disposal capacities.
4️⃣ Evolving concerns
Finally, the impacts of the climate change and of a rising geopolitical instability needs to be considered.

Jean Claude Delalonde, Chair of ANCCLI, recalled that: “… recently in France, civil society via ANCCLI 👥 was heard by parliamentarians on 2️⃣ laws related to nuclear issues ☢: one on the acceleration of procedures & the other on the reorganization of safety. This is a major step forward, and it’s vital that political decision-makers are able to hear the voices of civil society before forging their decisions. This is as true in France 🇨🇵 as it is in Europe 🇪🇺 …”

In fact, NTW was established in 2013 following a call of members of the Parliament praising for Transparency and Public Participation in nuclear energy to improve the safety. It has been recognized that an early involvement of civil society can help decision making, this is why this conference will hopefully lead to another ones involving many other MEP and Civil Society Organisations representatives.