A communiqué between the nations sets out a belief that nuclear power can play a part of Europe’s future low-carbon energy mix and outlines a commitment to collaborate on safety and creating greater certainty for investors.
Representatives from Britain, as well as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain signed the document in London yesterday.
The EU member states also agreed that each individual country should be able to freely determine its own energy mix and press ahead with their decarbonisation objectives using “the fullest range” of low carbon technologies.
The UK and French governments also committed £12.5 million of funding to the Jules Horowitz research reactor, being built in southern France.
Energy secretary Ed Davey said: “This communiqué signals a move to a stronger, better and closer working relationship between member states on nuclear energy. By working together to enable low carbon energy projects to come forward we will go some way to reducing the EU’s carbon emissions and ensuring greater energy security.”