Nuclear Energy
This sector represents a source of energy with low carbon levels and relatively stable costs, which makes it interesting from the point of view of supply security and of fighting the climate change.
In 1957 the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) established the conditions for the development of nuclear energy in Europe.
Its main functions included specific measures adopted at EU level to protect:
· the health of those people working in this sector and of the population,
· the environment from the risks associated with the use of nuclear fuel and the resulting waste .
The European Commission in the Directive 2006/117/Euratom provides the following definitions:
- Spent fuel: ″nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in and permanently removed from a reactor core; spent fuel may either be considered as a usable resource that can be reprocessed, or be destined for final disposal with no further use foreseen and treated as radioactive waste″.
- and the radioactive waste ″all radioactive material, in gaseous, liquid or solid form, for which no further use is foreseen by the countries of origin or destination, and which is controlled as radioactive waste by a regulatory body in the countries of origin and destination″.
For further information see Nuclear energy .
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