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European lawmakers issued a declaration on Tuesday urging the European Union to unlock the potential of nuclear fusion energy, stressing its role in boosting the bloc’s competitiveness as a future electricity source.
MEPs made the case during a public hearing in the European Parliament calling for a “clear, predictable regulatory framework” that would attract investment, given the astronomical costs that fusion energy will likely demand.
“Fusion has reached a turning point. European industrial capability and private investments are converging toward deployment. What is now required is clear political backing and effective mechanisms to attract private capital,” reads the declaration, seen by Euronews and signed by several lawmakers from the centrist European People’s Party (EPP).
The plea comes as the European Commission prepares to present a fusion strategy in the near future, a spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday, without revealing specific timelines.
“We should move from the perception that (fusion energy) is just research,” said MEP Tsvetelina Penkova (Bulgaria/EPP).
Lawmaker Hildegard Bentele (Germany/EPP) said that fusion energy is “Europe’s chance to turn scientific leadership into industrial power.”
“Fusion energy is no longer a distant vision, but a strategic opportunity to ensure a clean, safe, and reliable energy supply and to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness,” said MEP Pascal Arimont (Belgium/EPP). “Our objective must be clear: fusion energy should be developed, financed, and implemented in Europe.”
In the declaration, lawmakers ask the European Commission to provide guidance and to allow EU countries the flexibility to determine their own specific regulatory and safety requirements, licensing and permitting for fusion power plants.
“This should include clarification of the regulatory status of fusion – distinct from fission – implementing existing EU requirements for radiation protection, waste, decommissioning, and liability,” reads the declaration.
Fission versus fusion
Fusion energy, or nuclear fusion, is the limitless power source that fuels the sun and stars. This energy source produces energy when two small atomic nuclei merge to form a larger nucleus, releasing significant energy.
Where nuclear fission makes energy by splitting large atoms into smaller ones, which releases heat used to make electricity, nuclear fusion makes energy by joining small atoms like hydrogen together, releasing even more energy.
While fission is used in power plants today, it creates radioactive waste. Fusion is cleaner and safer, but is still being developed and is not yet used for electricity.
In 2022, the US Department of Energy announced a major breakthrough in fusion energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility. Scientists there achieved the first controlled fusion experiment in which the fusion reaction produced more energy than the laser energy used to start it, a milestone known as ignition.
So far, Germany is the leading EU country pursuing fusion energy, having clinched a €7 billion deal with the multinational energy company RWE in 2023 to build a pilot plant by 2035.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to create a regulatory framework for fusion technology in Germany and Europe. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he directly criticised his predecessors’ decision to shut down the country’s nuclear plants.