Member states to support a co-funded European partnership in nuclear materials
The second ORIENT-NM Workshop presented the work performed by the project in the last months and managed to secure the explicit support of six member states' representatives.
On 31 May, the second ORIENT-NM Workshop to explore consensus on a co-funded European partnership (CEP) on nuclear materials took place. The event, a new step in the open dialogue of the nuclear materials research community with all relevant stakeholders, was organised as part of FISA 2022 & EURADWASTE '22, under the scope of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The event gathered official representatives from the European Commission and a number of Member States (MS), among which Croatia, France, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden. Moreover, other stakeholders were present such as research organisations, nuclear associations and industries.
The objective of this second workshop was to present the work performed in ORIENT-NM to establish a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), governance and implementation plan for the partnership. At the same time, to introduce a plan for interaction with external stakeholders. As part of the session, feedback from key stakeholders was encouraged, given the nature of the project.
As a result of the effort carried out by the ORIENT-NM partners throughout almost two years of work, six member states representatives, namely Croatia, France, Italy, Romania, Spain and Sweden, explicitly supported the launch of a partnership on nuclear materials.
The final report with main takeaways, member states’ statements and next steps is available at this link:
http://www.eera-jpnm.eu/orient-nm/filesharer/documents/Deliverables_and_Milestones/Public%20deliverables
About ORIENT-NM
ORIENT-NM seeks to explore the possibility and critically assess the added value of establishing a Co-Funded European Partnership (CEP) to support the development of a coordinated European research and innovation programme on nuclear materials, positively impacting Europe's competitiveness in the nuclear field at a world scale. For more information, please visit: www.eera-jpnm.eu/orient-nm
Importance of the project
The transition towards a climate-neutral society relies on a secure and sustainable energy supply. In this framework, nuclear energy has a key role to play, being the second largest source of low-carbon electricity in the world and in Europe, guaranteeing stable and continuous supply at a comparably low cost. Many are the benefits of nuclear energy, from the availability of plentiful resources and their ease of stockpiling to its economic security, reliability, and predictability.
Nuclear materials, the main focus of ORIENT-NM's project, represent a key element for nuclear energy's safety, efficiency, economy, and sustainability. With the ongoing energy crisis and the short-term goals of REPowerEU, the increased greenhouse-gas emissions reduction target set at 55% for 2030, and the long-term goal of the EU to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, governments across Europe are looking for ways to increase supply diversity and reliability without compromising the emissions reduction target. Thus, funding research on nuclear materials and encouraging cooperation between countries on this topic is of pivotal importance not only towards fully sustainable nuclear energy but also for other energy technologies, thereby opening the way to cross-sectorial collaboration.
