The European Union’s post-Covid-19 recovery plan must include investment in clean technologies such as nuclear energy that will create growth and jobs, ensure security of supply and help the bloc meet its ambitious decarbonsation goals, the head of the Brussels-based nuclear industry group Foratom has said.

Foratom director-general Yves Desbazeille said Europe’s fleet of 107 commercial nuclear reactors, which generates electricity in 13 of the bloc’s 27 member states, meets clean energy criteria and is a European technology, with a European supply chain, “capable of providing Europe with the low-carbon energy it needs, when its needs it”.

He said Foratom will work on ensuring that the EU’s post-Covid recovery will ensure security of energy supply, pay sufficient attention to European technologies which create jobs and growth, and ensure the EU will achieve decarbonisation goals using all low-carbon technologies available.