Euratom: €9.8 billion for nuclear research in the next EU budget

The European Commission has put forward a €9.8 billion budget proposal for the EU’s next nuclear research programme, Euratom, giving a huge boost to fusion research.

The next edition of Euratom, starting in 2028, will be almost five times bigger than the current €1.98 billion nuclear research programme. Most of this funding will go towards fusion energy projects, fuelling Europe’s ambition to become the first to develop and commercialise the technology.

A peculiarity of the Euratom programmes is that they are legally required to run for five years, which puts them out of step with the seven-year EU budget cycle. So, it is now usual for each programme to have a two-year extension to keep it in step. 

The present proposal sets aside €6.7 billion from 2028 and 2032, with the extension bringing the total to €9.8 billion.

In the first five years, most of the budget, €5.3 billion, will fund fusion energy research, of which almost €4 billion will cover the EU’s contribution to International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the international project trying to turn fusion into a viable energy source. 

The rest of the money for fusion, €1.3 billion, will be used to advance research from basic science to innovation, and foster the development of a European fusion industry. 

All this will complement the EU’s new fusion “moon shot” included in the proposal for the next Horizon Europe programme. So far, the Commission has released no further information on what this will involve. 

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Meanwhile, Euratom will continue support for nuclear fission research, focusing on safety, radiation protection and management, and maintaining skills in the nuclear sector. The proposed budget for fission research is much smaller, at €590 million for five years. This is a little more than double the €266 million budget of the last five-year programme.

The remaining funding, €760 million, will support work at the Commission's in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre.

Nuclear energy is an important strategic resource for Europe, with nuclear fission accounting for 24% of electricity produced in the EU in 2024. The bloc is now also betting on fusion becoming a gamechanger in net-zero energy production.

The proposal will now go to EU member state officials and members of the European Parliament, who will hash out the details of the programme and negotiate its final budget by 2028.