IAEA Addresses Nuclear Energy Use Among New EU Members

The IAEA has taken notice of the nuclear energy dependence of the new European Union members. Five of the ten countries that officially joined the European Union (EU) on 1 May rely on nuclear energy to provide a fourth or more of their electricity needs, based on the IAEA's nuclear databanks.

• Czech Republic: Six nuclear plants are operating, two at Temelin and four at Dukovany, collectively supplying about a fourth of the country's electricity.
• Hungary: Four nuclear plants are operating at Paks, supplying about 36% of the country's electricity.
• Lithuania: Two nuclear plants are operating at Ignalina, supplying about 80% of the country's electricity.
• Slovakia: Six nuclear plants are operating at Bohunice and Mochovce, collectively supplying about 55% of the country's electricity.
• Slovenia: One nuclear plant is operating at Krsko, supplying about 40% of the country's electricity.

The new countries will add to the overall use of nuclear energy by nearly 450 million people in the expanded EU. Before the expansion, about one-third of the world's nuclear-generated electricity was consumed in the EU. As noted at a recent European energy conference, nuclear's future is mixed and countries face important choices. Beside the five new EU countries, eight others operate nuclear power plants - Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Of these, four (Sweden, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands) have introduced phase-out programmes, while Finland plans to build more nuclear plants.

More detail can be found on the IAEA Web Site:http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2004/energy_eu.html