"Investments in nuclear energy in Europe: building a long-term framework to allow the upgrading and financing of projects" debates were held in Brussels On October 20th, organized by Les Entretiens Europ?ens. Leading nuclear enterprises, international organizations, academic and expert community representatives took part in the event. The main discussion topic was the role of nuclear energy in the future European energy mix.
Within the framework of the program, roundtables on various aspects of investments’ projects in the European nuclear industry were held. ROSATOM representatives described company’s European projects within the specific discussion.
Alexey Lokhov, Deputy Director, Business Development at Rosatom France stated that in recent years company had increased its global presence, primarily, in Western Europe, where nuclear energy development is highly important due to the decarbonisation policy and the achievement of the Paris climate conference objectives. “Rosatom is the market leader and it owns nearly a half of the international market. First of all, we offer better financial terms in comparison with our competitors, as Rosatom conducts mass production of power units, in European countries as well. European companies are highly involved in the majority of our projects. Apart from the exporting projects, Rosatom is implementing an extensive program of new nuclear construction, as well as the lifetime extension of the existing power units in Russia”.
A. Lokhov noted that the investments in new nuclear construction on the European market become less attractive. "Considering the growing demand for electricity, in the existing institutional conditions, cheap low-carbon power import, along with the further lifetime extension of the existing power capacities could be the most appropriate option to ensure stable base load," - he stressed.
Dmitry Sukhanov, General Director of JSC "Atomenergopromsbyt" (part of Rosatom) delivered a speech on the topic "From Competition to Cooperation with the EU: The case of Kaliningrad". He, in turn, drew attention to the need of continuation of the mutual integration of electricity markets, which will contribute to the stable functioning of the energy systems, especially in terms of the big share of renewable energy in the generation structure. The challenge of energy markets connectivity improvement and the stability of power systems can be resolved at the expense of the electrical grid infrastructure of the new nuclear power stations. In case of the Baltic region, this role could be played by Baltic NPP. "The project is in the framework of the EU energy policy concept and its implementation will contribute to the stabilization of electricity prices, CO2 emissions reduction, as well as significant improvement in the reliability of power supply to the regional consumers ", - he said. Claude Fischer, Director of the "Les Entretiens Europeens" expressed special thanks to the Rosatom representatives for their willingness to an open and constructive dialogue.
The Director of the Nuclear Safety and Fuel Cycle Directorate – General for Energy of the European Commission Massimo Garribba also took part in the debates, noting that Europe needs long-term vision and concept for the nuclear energy development.
Debates “Investments in nuclear energy in Europe: building a long-term framework to allow the upgrading and financing of projects” established by Les Entretiens Europeens, which focuses on the organization of the researches and discussions on key scientific, economic and social aspects of nuclear energy in Europe and the world. The event is a platform for open discussion between representatives of political, business and academic societies and is being held annually since 2002.