Brexit goes nuclear: The consequences of leaving Euratom

The UK Government has clarified with its Brexit White Paper that when invoking Article 50, it ‘will be leaving Euratom as well as the EU’. The need to distinguish exiting Euratom from exiting the EU arises because Euratom is legally distinct from the EU. The UK decided to leave Euratom because, albeit independent, the institution relies for its functioning on EU bodies such as the Commission, the Council of Ministers and the Court of Justice. According to the White Paper, the UK Government considers the nuclear industry of strategic importance for the country, and for this reason it ‘will seek alternative arrangements’ to continue civil nuclear cooperation on safeguards, safety and trade with Europe. In this blog we examine the functions of Euratom, its relevance for the UK, the potential implications of a UK departure from Euratom for both the UK and Euratom itself, and the potential ways forward. Euratom - what is it and what does it do? The European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) was founded by the Treaties of Rome of 1957 with the aim of creating a European market for nuclear power. Euratom is legally distinct from the EU, although it is governed by EU institutions. Its membership is composed the EU Member States plus Switzerland (Associated State since 2014). Euratom also has cooperation agreements with eight “Third Countries” - US, Japan, Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and South Africa. The key functions of Euratom are to - Promote research on nuclear energy, and particularly on nuclear fusion – a technology that has the potential to provide a sustainable solution for the world’s energy needs and could thus be considered a global common good; Establish uniform safety standards and ensure that they are applied; Ensure the regular supply of ores and nuclear fuels; Ensure that nuclear materials are not diverted to purposes other than those for which they are intended; Ensure free movement of capital for investment in nuclear energy and free movement of employment for specialists in the sector. Euratom carries out these functions using three key instruments - The Euratom Supplies Agency, which owns and controls the supply of all fissile materials in Euratom’s Member States; The European Commission, which develops research programmes to foster research on nuclear energy; The Euratom Safeguards Directorate, which ensures that nuclear materials are not diverted from their intended uses (non-proliferation). The UK’s links to Euratom Reflecting the key functions of Euratom, the UK’s links with the organisation are in the following areas - Nuclear fusion research - Euratom’s flagship project is the ‘International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor’ (ITER), the world’s largest planned nuclear fusion experiment. Located in the south of France, ITER is designed to produce 500 MW of fusion power from 50 MW of input power - a ten-fold return on energy. It is funded and run by a seven-party consortium composed of the EU, India, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea and the US. The UK has an important role in this project. It hosts the Joint European Torus (JET), the world’s largest operational nuclear fusion device. This project is also known as ‘Little ITER’, since its experimental design and results are mainly supposed to consolidate ITER’s design. The JET project - carried out by a team of 350 scientists - is formally a joint venture used by more than 40 EU laboratories. Budget for nuclear fusion - The EU is covering the largest share of ITER’s construction costs (45 percent), amounting to €2.7 billion over the 2014-2020 period. This is financed through a specific budget line within the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) of the EU budget. During the forthcoming negotiations, the European Commission is expected to claim the UK’s share of this amount as a liability towards the EU. In addition, ITER-related research costs are covered through the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon2020, formerly FP7), administered by Euratom. The UK stands to lose access to those funds. To put it into perspective, over the 2014-18 period Euratom has a total research budget of €1.6 billion drawn from the H2020 budget, of which €700 million will be distributed to carry out research specifically on nuclear fusion. €424 million will go to EUROfusion, a consortium of university groups and national labs, mostly for research related to the ITER project. The remaining €283 million have been budgeted solely for the Culham Centre, the UK institute that hosts JET, operating as a common facility for researchers across Europe. JET alone receives around €69 million per year of funding, 87.5% of which is provided by the European Commission and the remaining 12.5 percent is funded by the UK. Safety, non-proliferation and free movement of capital and labour - Euratom is not only relevant to the UK for its research component, but also for its operational functions.