LUT investigates the role of nuclear power in Europe

A €3.6m project investigating the role of nuclear power on the energy map of Europe has received funding from Horizon 2020. The study, co-ordinated by Spain’s University of Barcelona, includes the participation of Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and is considered the most extensive project studying nuclear power in Europe.

There are 26 European countries involved in the consortium and is the first to form a comprehensive picture on the role of nuclear power in Europe. With active debates on the matter of using nuclear power, the aim of the study is to dispose of the dichotomy by continuously undermining the use of the technology.

Commenting on the project, Professor Karl-Erik Michelsen of the LUT School of Business and Management said: “We collect multidisciplinary data in order to better understand how people define nuclear power, what is the role of the society and how does it steer decision making and the development of the entire nuclear industry? Our aim is to use research knowledge to establish a socially, politically and economically stable situation for nuclear power.”

The project, comprising two phases, sees the role of nuclear power being examined from national, international and civil societal viewpoints. In the first stage, national data on all of the involved countries and information on supranational institutions will be collected. In the second stage, a group of approximately 20 international researchers will analyse all collected data.

”In some countries, nuclear power production has been imported from elsewhere, which makes the role of the citizen minor,” adds Michelsen. “In countries where production and technology have been developed further, nuclear power has a more significant role from the socioeconomic point of view. The study will help us determine how nuclear power production, its side effects and the development of technology are apparent in, for example, national economy or the number of jobs.”

Also being examined is political decision making regarding nuclear power and the role of citizens. The information gathered will be stored in a data bank, allowing both researchers and industry to utilise the information after the study. Based on a national comparison, the researchers will assess the current state of nuclear power across Europe and construct future scenarios on how the role of nuclear power will evolve.