Decision to turn back on nuclear was a strategic mistake, EU's von der leyen says

Reducing nuclear energy a 'strategic mistake', EU chief says

By Forrest Crellin and Gianluca Lo Nostro

EU's Nuclear Energy Policy and Its Consequences

PARIS, March 10 (Reuters) - Reducing Europe's nuclear energy sector was a "strategic mistake", EU chief Ursula Von der Leyen said on Tuesday, as governments grappled with an energy crunch from the Iran war.

Decline in Nuclear Power Usage

Europe produced around a third of electricity from nuclear power in 1990, but that has fallen to 15%, the EU Commission president told an event in Paris, leaving it reliant on oil and gas imports whose prices have surged in recent days.

Dependence on Fossil Fuel Imports

Being "completely dependent on expensive and volatile imports" of fossil fuels put Europe at a disadvantage to other regions, von der Leyen said in a speech at a nuclear energy event.

"This reduction in the share of nuclear was a choice, I believe that it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power." 

Germany's Nuclear Phase-Out

Germany, where von der Leyen is from, took a political decision under former Chancellor Angela Merkel to phase out nuclear power plants owing to public opposition and safety concerns after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. 

Europe's exposure was first illustrated in 2022 with the end of cheap supplies of Russian gas after the invasion of Ukraine.

Nuclear Renaissance?

France's Advocacy for Nuclear Power

France, Europe's biggest nuclear energy producer, argues stable, low-carbon power from nuclear plants is key to improving the competitiveness of heavy industries. 

Supply Chain Diversification

French President Emmanuel Macron said the bloc - where nuclear power producers still use a large amount of Russian enriched uranium - needed to move away to other reliable suppliers. 

"We need to cooperate internationally to make progress on this issue, to diversify our supply sources," he told the Paris event. "We must also continue investing and innovating in order to expand enrichment capacity further," he said, adding that France planned to increase its own capacity.

Current Uranium Supply Sources

Moscow supplies about 15% of uranium used in the EU, according to data from the Euratom supply agency for 2024, the most recent year available. 

Canada provided about 34% followed by Kazakhstan with 24%.

France imported 39% of its enriched uranium from Russia in 2025, customs data showed.

Standardisation and Competition in Nuclear Projects

Macron also proposed standardising reactor designs across Europe. That could benefit France's state-owned nuclear giant EDF, which has struggled to win recent tenders for new projects.

In 2024 South Korea's KHNP won a tender worth at least $18 billion to build a new nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic, a decision which losing bidder EDF sought to block in the courts.

Additional Information

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(Reporting by Kate Abnett, America Hernandez, Gianluca Lo Nostro, Forrest Crellin, Bart Meijer and Inti Landauro;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Andrew Cawthorne)