European Leaders Seek Tighter Cooperation on Energy

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Nuclear Power - Economics, Design, & Industry

Date posted: 02/26/15

James Kanter and Stanley Reed report that the European Union authorities vowed on Wednesday to accelerate efforts to knit together their diverse energy systems amid deepening tensions with Russia, a major supplier of the regional natural gas. The European Commission said its proposal for an energy union represented an important step toward unifying member economies and could help wean some countries from dependence on Russia, which supplies about a quarter of the area natural gas. About half of those Russian gas supplies are piped through Ukraine, where Russia is involved in heavy fighting in the east of the country. Disputes between Russia and Ukraine led to cutoffs of Russian gas to Europe in 2006 and 2009. Tensions have flared in recent days after the Russian gas exporter Gazprom threatened to halt deliveries because of a payment dispute. Did not the Germans begin to shut down their nuclear reactors...? Cooperation in the coal and steel sectors was the basis more than half a century ago for what has now grown into the European Union. But past efforts to draft a unified energy policy have highlighted deep divisions between countries like France, which relies on nuclear technology for its power, and Germany, which is phasing out its reactors. But the ambitious plans - including some initiatives that have failed to win Europewide approval before - face difficult odds because the 28 European Union countries zealously guard their sovereignty over national energy systems. Go figure ...