Euratom and Nuclear Energy: EU Debates New Investment Framework

European leaders debate expanded nuclear energy investment as the continent seeks to balance decarbonisation with energy security.

The Nuclear Question: Europe Rethinks Atomic Energy

The Nuclear Energy Summit hosted by the European Commission in early 2026, at which Commission President von der Leyen delivered a major speech on the role of nuclear power in the European energy system, has crystallised a debate that has been building for several years: should nuclear energy be recognised as a core component of Europe's clean energy transition, and if so, what new investment frameworks and regulatory arrangements are needed to enable a new generation of nuclear power plants to be built?

The European Commission's Nuclear Illustrative Programme, published under Article 40 of the Euratom Treaty, presented a scenario in which nuclear capacity in the EU needed to at least maintain current levels — approximately 100 gigawatts — and potentially expand, in order to provide the firm, dispatchable low-carbon electricity needed to complement the intermittent output of wind and solar farms. The programme acknowledges that existing nuclear plants are ageing and that without new construction, the EU faces a significant decarbonised baseload gap by the 2040s that cannot realistically be filled by renewables and storage alone.

The politics of nuclear energy within the EU remain deeply divided. France, which generates around 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power and is planning a massive programme of new reactor construction including six European Pressurised Reactors and potentially smaller modular reactors, is the most vociferous advocate of nuclear in the energy mix. Germany, which shut down its last nuclear power plants in 2023 in a decision that has faced growing criticism in retrospect, is the most prominent opponent, though German political opinion has shifted measurably toward a more open discussion about the trade-offs involved.