At an event devoted to nuclear fusion at the European Parliament organised by the ECR group and presented by Nicola Procaccini (ECR, Italian) and Letitzia Moratti (EPP, Italian) on Thursday 27 March, the European Commission reiterated its intention to present its strategy for accelerating the commercialisation of energy produced by nuclear fusion in the EU in the coming months (see EUROPE 13573/11).
This strategy will take the form of a simple communication, as Benoît Fourestié, acting head of unit at the Commission’s DG ENER, confirmed to Agence Europe. While the intention is to achieve publication by the end of 2025, the Communication will most likely not be published until early next year.
It will largely be based on the guidelines formulated by the ‘Fusion Expert Group’ set up in June 2024 to advise the Commission.
In the next few days, this group will present its very first guidance document based on five key principles: - the ITER international reactor project; - research, industry and innovation; - the regulatory framework for the merger; - international cooperation; - the revised governance of EU programmes.
While the EU’s stated aim is to establish itself as a leader, investment in the sector is largely dominated by the United States,
“Out of 45 fusion companies, 25 are based in the US and these 25 American companies are capturing over 75% of the private investments. We have six EU-based companies, capturing less than 2% of the global investment”, explained Cyrille Mai Thanh, Director for European Affairs at the ‘Fusion Industry Association’.
He also mentioned that other countries were gaining ground in the field, such as China, followed by Japan and South Korea.
For example, a report presented at the European Parliament event on the status of nuclear fusion research, written by Piero Martin, warns that “letting other international players take the lead on such a strategic asset like fusion is, for Europe, extremely dangerous”.
The European industry is calling on the EU institutions to guarantee regulatory certainty, including dedicated regimes for fusion clearly separated from fission, and to promote effective public-private partnerships.
On this last point, the European Commission intends to set up a public-private partnership coordinated by DG RTD (research and innovation) as part of the extension of the Euratom 2026-2027 programme. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)