The relaunch of Europe’s Foratom trade association for the nuclear energy industry comes at a time when the sector, more than ever in its recent history, is at the heart of the energy debate as the bloc seeks to improve energy security and reduce its reliance on Russian oil and gas.

The nuclear industry sees itself as the solution, in whole or in part, to the problems Europe is grappling with – problems the new nucleareurope group, which replaces Foratom, says have existed for some time, but which politicians and policymakers have so far failed to confront.

At the launch of nucleareurope in Helsinki Finland, the group’s director-general Yves Desbazeille said: “We’ve had clear signals over the last 18 months in Europe that the energy crisis – reflected by increasing prices – was looming.”