Nuclear Reactors 431 - Leaving The European Union Will Have A Major Impact On The U.K. Nuclear Program
I have blogged about the U.K. nuclear program in the past. The most recent such blogs have mostly been about the big Hinkley Point C project. The European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) was created by a treaty signed in 1957. It forms the basis for regulation of the peaceful use of nuclear energy in the European Union. A major current question confronting the U.K. is what effect the "Brexit" vote to leave the European Union will have on the U.K. nuclear program. EURATOM membership is not the same as E.U. membership but it has the same process for withdrawal as the E.U. and it is assumed that the U.K. will also leave the EURATOM.
It is possible that the U.K. could choose to stay in the EURATOM after leaving the E.U. If the U.K. stays in the EURATOM, it will participate in the framework for bilateral nuclear cooperation with the other 27 E.U. members who are also members of the EURATOM. In addition to access to E.U. members, the EURATOM would also provide the basis for bilateral nuclear cooperation with Australia, Argentina, Canada, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Ukraine, the United States, and Uzbekistan. The EURATOM also provides the basis for a consistent approach to dealing with radiation safety and nuclear waste management for its members.
A lot of the U.K. nuclear commerce is conducted through the EURATOM. Leaving the EURATOM could interfere with U.K. trade in fissile materials and reactor components. The U.K. would have to negotiate separate bilateral agreements with nuclear trading partners which could take years to accomplish. In order to continue uninterrupted nuclear trade, the U.K. would need to remain in the EURATOM until new bilateral agreements had been forged.
While the regulatory framework of the EURATOM provides numerous benefits to the U.K. nuclear industry, that sort of external regulation by the E.U. was one of the motivating factors for those who voted to leave the E.U. If the U.K. chooses to stay in the EURATOM, its nuclear trade will be regulated by the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA) which was created for that specific purpose. Any country in the E.U. who wants to buy or sell fissile materials for use in a nuclear power plant must first get its contract approved by the ESA. The control of the ESA over fissile materials amounts to ownership of all members' fissile materials that are traded to other countries. The countries buy the right to use the fissile materials as fuel in power reactors but they do not buy ownership. And, finally, leaving the EURATOM could result in delays or even cancellations of projects involving other EURATOM members. This would be to the benefit of countries such as China which have independent bilateral agreements with the U.K. but it would certainly disrupt the global nuclear market.
Taking all this into consideration, it would be best for the U.K. to delay withdrawal from the EURATOM until well after its withdrawal from the E.U. so as to insure a stable transition from EURATOM regulation and trade frameworks to other arrangements.
