Get audio access with any FP subscription. Subscribe Now ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN

Get audio access with any FP subscription.

ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN

As Iran attacks energy-rich Gulf nations in retaliation for missile strikes by the United States and Israel, and imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz—the key waterway through which a fifth of global oil and gas tankers pass—oil prices have climbed past $100 a barrel and global energy markets have been shaken. Among the most-affected regions by spiraling prices is Europe.

Europeans were already stressed about their relatively high electricity costs compared to trade rivals like China and the United States, and disadvantages that imposes on their industrial base. They have also been reminded of the vulnerabilities that were first revealed in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and the bloc had to suddenly cut consumption of inexpensive Russian fossil fuel.

As Iran attacks energy-rich Gulf nations in retaliation for missile strikes by the United States and Israel, and imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz—the key waterway through which a fifth of global oil and gas tankers pass—oil prices have climbed past $100 a barrel and global energy markets have been shaken. Among the most-affected regions by spiraling prices is Europe.

Europeans were already stressed about their relatively high electricity costs compared to trade rivals like China and the United States, and disadvantages that imposes on their industrial base. They have also been reminded of the vulnerabilities that were first revealed in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and the bloc had to suddenly cut consumption of inexpensive Russian fossil fuel.

The urge to become energy independent has acquired new urgency across the continent. And policymakers are now making a renewed case for the return of nuclear energy as an unavoidable part of the Europe’s total energy mix.

But experts are asking whether politicians can fulfill the prerequisite of assuaging public concerns over safety and nuclear waste disposal. Opposition to nuclear energy in Europe has built over decades, particularly after the disasters in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986 and Fukushima, Japan, in 2011. And there’s also reason to wonder whether nuclear power can deliver on the promise of energy sovereignty in the first place.

At a nuclear energy summit in Paris, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was “a strategic mistake” to phase out nuclear power, lamenting that it made up one-third of Europe’s electricity needs in 1990 but has now been reduced to approximately 15 percent. “For fossil fuels, we are........

© Foreign Policy