European Union 🇪🇺
📆September 2024
– a Clean Industry Deal is foreseen by the European Commission with potential consequences for nuclear projects.
Austria 🇦🇹
📆September 2024
– in the framework of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure in a transborder context for the 🇷🇴 Cernavoda Life-Time Extension (LTE) for the reactor 1, the neighbouring states were consulted and the states: Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Hungary, and Austria expressed their interest in participating in the EIA.
– legal steps may be foreseen due to the lack of notification of Austria on the consultation for new reactors in France.
Belgium 🇧🇪
📆September 2024
– state aid for LTE of reactors in Doel or Thiange could be investigated.
Bulgaria 🇧🇬
📆February 2025
– a feasibility study for two reactors in Bulgaria has already been conducted, costing around $350 million, public participation was not foreseen as it’s not mandatory at this stage even if it could be interesting.
– the current government is not a technical one but a coalition between three parties with the support of a fourth with pro-nuclear ministers from
the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and a smaller populist party. It was also underlined that the governmental website was not functioning.
– Petar Kardzilov reported that a court decision on an appeal against the previous government’s decision to start the building procedure for units 7 and 8 of Kozloduy nuclear power plant was stil expected.
📆December 2024
– the decision to build the seventh and eighth units in Kozloduy nuclear power plant was not made as a formal document according to the law, but as part of the minutes of the governmental session on October 25, 2023. Petar Penchev and Petar Kardzilov have appealed this to the court and now await for the decision of the Supreme administrative court. In fact, the Bulgarian Ministry of energy has signed an engineering project which is essentially a conceptual design and not a technical design. This engineering project (signed 4.11.2024) will cost between $350 and $370 million, and will show the cost of the construction of the new two units within a year – supposedly between $14 and 16 billion. An engineering project involves obligations, contracts, and nuclear safety laws.
– a formal supervision could lead to poor quality, high costs, and corruption, in fact the funding for the 7th unit may become a state obligation therefore the European Commission should ensure a full separation of the new project from Kozloduy NPP. So far, the US EXIM Bank has offered $8 billion, with more expected from Korean’s EXIM Bank.
📆September 2024
The construction of 2 reactors is planned with Westinghouse for $ 14 billion at Kozloduy in Bulgaria.
Czech Republic 🇨🇿
📆February 2025
– there are plans for a new nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic (Dukovany), which is expected to go into full operation in 2024.
– the pro-nuclear government has prepared a document outlining the procedure for notifying the European Commission about the financial aspects of the project.
France 🇫🇷
📆 March 2025
-the EPR at Flamanville (Manche) shutdown has been extended until March 30 due to “technical problems”, in all, the reactor was shut down for 76 days during its first 100 days of operation. It is nonetheless held up as a symbol of France’s nuclear revival.
– regarding the EPR2 nuclear reactors at Penly (Seine-Maritime), the concrete planned for it, including the nuclear island, which houses the reactor core, is currently not up to standard. At issue is a problem with the aggregate, which could lead to faster-than-expected degradation of these constructions, which are in principle expected to last at least sixty years.
– a governmental internal report from 2023 presented to the nuclear policy council to give the go-ahead for a major overhaul of the nuclear industry’s safety system has been modified at the request of the Élysée Palace according to independent journalists.
– the 4th Nuclear Policy Council, held on March 17, 2025, discussed the strategic challenges facing the future of the nuclear industry in France. Financially, it foresees a subsidized government loan covering at least half the construction costs ; and a contract for difference on nuclear production at a maximum price of 100 euros per megawatt-hour (if the market price is below this threshold, EDF receives compensation from the State; if it is above, EDF pays the difference to the State).
📆February 2025
– an authorization was received for the EPR in Flamanville.
– there are ongoing public consultations for new EPRs in Gravelines and Bugey.
– vibrations in the EPR of Flamanville were discovered and EDF didn’t disclose further details.
📆September 2024
– an evaluation of the conditions for running 900 Mwe NPPs over 40 years is still ongoing and should be in compliance with Espoo.
– the public consultation for the possibility to run 1300 MWe NPPs over 40 years will end on 30 September 2024 (NTW plans to coordinate a response). Under Espoo the Luxembourg asked for an EIA of Cattenom.
– the construction of 6 “EPR” reactors is planned (Penly (2), Gravelines (2) and Bugey (2)).
– Greenpeace is preparing a study on the impacts of sea rise on NPPs in 50 or 60 years from now which is expected to be released mid-October.
Netherlands 🇳🇱
📆 March 2025
KHNP (South Korea🇰🇷) has withdrawn from the plans for new reactors, and the Dutch Minister announced they have also withdrawn from Sweden🇸🇪 and Slovenia 🇸🇮.
📆February 2025
– the current government, led by the NVA, is pro-nuclear and has extended the lifetime of the reactors. The complexity of participation procedures in the Netherlands raises concerns and maybe against the Aarhus Convention. However, Jan Haverkamp already received a rejection from the
Ministry regarding his complaint on that but he considers further steps like making it part of a court appeal or starting an internal complaints procedure.
– ongoing feasibility studies for the Westinghouse project are under review by an independent consultancy.
– there was a delay in the publication of the national plan for radioactive waste.
📆September 2024
– lifetime-extension was requested for Borssele, the oldest NPP in the EU which was according to the law supposed to be stopped in 2023. Operating it beyond 60 years would only be possible by changing the law.
– the construction of 4 reactors is planned.
Poland 🇵🇱
📆December 2024
– Nuclear power plant program in Poland is being supported by the United States through loans from the Axiom Bank and the U.S. Development Bank. Axiom Bank loan can only be used for materials produced in the U.S. and exported to Poland, while a smaller loan from the U.S. Development Bank likely has similar criteria.
– the large amount of U.S. state funding involved can be surprising and make wonder if this could lead to tensions with Poland, which wants to invest in its own production capacity. Furthermore, the U.S. is not building new plants at home because the financial risks have stopped the market there.
Romania 🇷🇴
📆September 2024
– the construction of 2 reactors is planned at Cernavoda in Romania and lifetime extension for the existing reactor n°1.
– the Ministry of Environment and Water mentions the “repair of Unit 1 of the Cherna Voda NPP and expansion of an intermediate dry storage facility for spent fuel with MACSTORE – 400 modules”.
Slovakia 🇸🇰
📆February 2025
The current operator, Slovak Electrics, has secured a large loan and is planning to extend the lifetime of the nuclear power plants.
Slovenia 🇸🇮
📆 March 2025
– the Ministry of Environment, Space and Energy, in charge of new nuclear has established a dedicated section on Energy with one head and 2 employees dedicated to implementation, legal aspects, or studies (e.g., Phoenix project in the US to have SMR located where NPP are), the State Secretary who’s under the Prime Minister, presented that as an NEPIO ‘Nuclear Energy Programme Implementing Organisation‘ to promote and implement nuclear energy while this is just a section of the Ministry.
– Slovenia is heading to a 2nd reactor NPP while joining in every international associations dealing with new NPPs development or SMRs.
📆February 2025
– a new nuclear sector has been established in the Ministry of Energy, staffed with personnel from the regulatory authority.
– a planned referendum on nuclear energy was cancelled due to leaked recordings revealing deals between opposing political factions.
– the vendors selection for the nuclear new reactor in Slovenia could be impacted by the conflict between the United States and South Korea leading to increased costs.
– the consideration around extending the lifetime of nuclear power plants to 80 years, has been strongly opposed by Miroslav
Gregoric who wrote a recent article about “Myths of nucelar” published in a Slovenian newspaper and translated by NTW. In the Netherlands 🇳🇱 and Switzerland 🇨🇭 for instance, they are considering a 10-year review strategy for nuclear power plants without considering a specific age limit.
📆December 2024
– the operator is still preparing documentation and needs to go through a new procedure due to uncertainties about the reactor’s power.
– there is a lack of national financial support for staff and the aging workforce, which could lead to a significant gap in the future so the operator is working on conditions to create a stable environment for new builds, including financial support for staff.
– there is a possibility for a referendum on national energy and climate program with two scenarios, one with nuclear power and the other without.
Ukraine 🇺🇦
📆February 2025
– financing of new reactors is still unclear, a credit guarantee from the US Exim Bank could be foreseen but only under positive circumstances.
– environmental impact assessment and public participation was also discussed as well as the involvement. The role of ENCO, a consulting company with a strong pro-nuclear stance was also discussed as reports were produced for the European Commission who seemed to have been reluctant to share reports financed by public money while there could be a public interest in accessing this information. A request to the Commission regarding that was decided.
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)
📆 March 2025
SMRs industrial alliance has selected 9 projects (PWG) among 22:
– EU-SMR-LFR project (Ansaldo Nucleare, SCK-CEN, ENEA, RATEN);
– CityHeat project (Calogena, Steady Energy);
– Project Quantum (Last Energy);
– European LFR AS Project (newcleo);
– Nuward (EDF);
– European BWRX-300 SMR (OSGE);
– Rolls-Royce SMR (Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd);
– NuScale VOYGR™ SMR (RoPower Nuclear S.A);
– Thorizon One project (Thorizon).
📆February 2025
– in the 🇳🇱 Netherlands, there will be an information meeting on Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in April 2025.
– 🇪🇪 Estonia and 🇱🇻 Latvia are considering the development of a SMR, but this met some scepticism from the Social Democrats. Anyhow, Public participation and regulatory approval would be needed before a site can be chosen.
– there is interest from Orange Hills Energy in building a project in 🇷🇴 Romania, despite previous projects being too expensive for the 🇺🇸 US. Romanian utility, Nuclear Electrica, may be considering financing the project and the economic arguments against the project might be weakened by the willingness of the US to subsidize it.
Nuclear Projects and Financial Concerns
📆December 2024
– in 🇵🇱 Poland and the 🇨🇿 Czech Republic, incremental investments from the state are being made in preparation for construction. there are worries about the financial situation and the potential for these projects to be privatized.
– in 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇧🇬 Bulgaria, and 🇸🇮 Slovenia, nuclear projects are being restarted with loans from the 🇺🇸 US.
– surprisingly the 🇪🇺 European Commission doesn’t seem to insist on a solid financial package for safety reasons.
– there are challenges in the construction phase of a project, particularly in relation to financing and procurement. Current financial models, such as contracts for difference, are only suitable for the operational term and not for the construction phase. Special vehicles are used to guarantee smooth operations and financial stability. The role of the state can be crucial in financing construction and the potential risks involved.
– a citizen financial nuclear transparency working group could be established to address this particular topic.
📆September 2024
– the Joint Project did a webinar on the financial tools which may be used for the construction of new nuclear reactors (CfD may no longer be used).