Abstract
It is hard to forecast with any certitude what the 21st century will hold for nuclear power. Still, the issues that will form its future are slightly clear. The goal of this paper is to study the possible role of nuclear energy in the formation of sustainable development in Europe, on the basis of a succinct inspection of the main driving forces involved.
Opinions regarding radioactive surplus, nuclear propagation, reactor accidents, trade and industry competitiveness, and public opinion continue to generate justified worries and thereby delay nuclear energy policy making, but the issues of energy supply safety, local air smog, and global environment change provide motive to reconsider its potential share in European power production. Whereas specific European nations (like Austria and Italy) currently have no plans to build nuclear power capacity, and others (such as Germany and Sweden) are publicly devoted to progressively increasing domestic nuclear energy supply, recent policy instructions in other states (Netherlands and the United Kingdom) show that nuclear energy is resurfacing on the political schedule, while some governments (Finland and France) definitively continue to preserve an important part for nuclear energy in their national electricity generation.
This paper briefly analyzes some of the key matters concerning the long-term forecasts for nuclear energy in Europe as well as the main relevant sustainability advices in this perspective. Europe, in this paper, refers in principle to all European nations, in the broad sense of the word, that were not part of the former Soviet Union excluding the three Baltic States. Therefore, not only members but also non-members of the current European Union are involved (Turkey). However, practically, this paper will focus on the probable future, at least until 2030, and most likely beyond. This growing energy consumption will be amongst the wide drivers for the forthcoming of nuclear power in Europe. Subsequently, the European population is likely to fall, with on average, a few part per thousands (ppt) per year until 2050, and the highest justification for the likely increase in energy use is the prospective growth of the European economy (expressed in GDP), typically by about 1.5% per year until 2050 in European Nations that are member of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and as high as 3.6% per year for countries with economies in transition
