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Ukraine situation shifts Europe’s nuclear power policy balance
1/6/2022
6 min read
Feature
It’s not all about oil and gas – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted rethinks of attitudes towards nuclear power in European countries from Portugal to Poland. Liz Newmark, Andreia Nogueira, Jens Kastner, Poorna Rodrigo, Zlatko Conkaš, Martina Marečková, William Tomaney and Keith Nuthall report.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has undermined many political assumptions, including – of course – the right of countries to retain their borders and independence without being invaded. But one change encouraged by the war has been the increased desire of European countries to shake off dependence on Russian oil and gas – and that has increased support for nuclear power.
Finland, which with Sweden, has now abandoned military neutrality and sought NATO membership has, for instance, just started operating a new nuclear power plant in Olkiluoto.
More nuclear growth will follow. With Russia cutting off gas supplies to Finland in May, the country’s Green League (part of the current centre-left ruling coalition), has now switched to a pro-nuclear stance. A national meeting in May decided that nuclear is ‘sustainable energy’, and backs the streamlining of the approval process for small modular reactors (SMRs). The meeting also supported extending licences for existing nuclear reactors in Finland – which before the new Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant came online delivered 19% of the country’s power supply. The new plant should add an additional 10%.