COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Ex-ante evaluation Accompanying the document Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing the research and training programme of the European Atomic Energy Community for the period 2028-2032, complementing Horizon Europe, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and providing for the Community’s contribution to the ITER project, and repealing Regulation (Euratom) 2025/1304
Date: 2025-09-03
Institutions: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission
Subjects: EAEC, EU programme, EU research policy, Framework Programme for Research and Development, innovation, nuclear research, nuclear safety, nuclear technology, research and development, vocational training

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 3.9.2025  SWD(2025) 595 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  Ex-ante evaluation Accompanying the document Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing the research and training programme of the European Atomic Energy Community for the period 2028-2032, complementing Horizon Europe, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation,  and providing for the Community’s contribution to the ITER project, and repealing Regulation (Euratom) 2025/1304 {COM(2025) 594 final} - {SWD(2025) 594 final}  
 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

This  ex-ante  evaluation  accompanies  the  Commission  proposal  for  the  Council  regulation 
establishing the new Euratom programme for 2028-2032 (The ‘Programme’). It provides funding for 
actions in nuclear fission and fusion, as well as for the Euratom contribution to the ITER project. The 
proposal  for  the  Euratom  programme  is  part  of the  package  of  Commission  proposals  for  the  next 
multi-annual  financial  framework  (‘MFF’)  covering  2028-2034.  The  MFF  package  aims  at 
enhancing the competitiveness of the European Union as a critical priority.  

The  EU  faces  today  several  challenges,  including  energy  independence,  the  urgent  need  for 
decarbonisation, and the imperative to maintain technological leadership in a rapidly evolving global 
energy market and continuous geopolitical instability. Nuclear energy generates electricity in 12 of 
the  27  EU  Member  States  and  provided  22.8%  of  Europe’s  electricity  and  half  of  the  EU’s  low 
carbon electricity in 2023. The current role and potential of nuclear energy to meet the EU’s climate 
goals, with co-benefits for air quality, and increasing electricity demand, as well as the promise of 
fusion  energy  and  new  nuclear  technologies,  including  Small  Modular  Reactors  and  Advanced 
Modular Reactors, place these technologies high on the EU’s policy agenda. This is reflected in the 
Commission’s strategic document and actions, such as the communication on Europe’s 2040 climate 
target,  which  underlines  the  importance  of  all  zero  and  low-carbon  energy  solutions,  including 
nuclear,  to  decarbonize  the  energy  system.  The  2024  report  on  “The  future  of  European 
competitiveness” further recognises that nuclear technology plays an enduring role in a competitive 
energy mix across the EU. It also considers nuclear fusion as ‘a disruptive technology that holds the 
potential to revolutionise the energy landscape in the second half of this century’.  

The  ex  ante  evaluation  concluded  that  to  address  the  new  competitiveness  and  energy  security 
challenges facing the EU, and in view of meeting decarbonisation targets, the Euratom programme 
must be reinforced in terms of budget and measures to enhance innovation and skills in the field of 
nuclear science and technology for both power and non-power applications.  

Euratom’s  actions  for  the  development  of  fusion  energy  will  be  guided  by  the  forthcoming  EU 
strategy for fusion energy and supported through a public-private partnership aimed at accelerating 
its rapid and economically viable commercialisation. This partnership will focus on creating a stable 
and predictable ecosystem  for industrial  innovation,  building  on the strengths and achievements  of 
EUROfusion  and  leveraging  the  ITER  project,  while  ensuring  a  clear  and  structured  technology 
development roadmap. Integral to these actions will be the bottom-up support for the emergence and 
growth of innovative European fusion start-ups and the broadening of opportunities for EU research 
in inertial confinement fusion. 

ITER will remain a cornerstone for the development of fusion energy in Europe and must be fully 
integrated into a broader EU strategy for this purpose. The Euratom programme will aim to complete 
construction for the first phase of experiments on time and within budget. This will be achieved  in 
particular by delivery of European components for ITER in line with the project baseline, by active 
participation  in  ITER  governance,  by  supervising  the  Joint  Undertaking  ‘Fusion  for  Energy’  in 
performance  of  its  tasks,  while  ensuring  that  technical  and  scientific  lessons  learned  from  ITER 
benefit the Union. 

The  new  Euratom  Programme  should  clearly  define  one  of  its  objectives  in  supporting  the 
development of safe and secure innovative fission technologies for a prosperous and sustainable EU. 
Technologies such as small modular reactors can support EU decarbonisation goals, complementing 
other  low-carbon  energy  solutions,  and  strengthening  strategic  autonomy.  Their  safe  deployment 

1 

 
 
requires a harmonised European approach to safety and independent validation. For the longer term, 
Euratom  research  will  focus  on  safety  and  safeguards  aspects  of  advanced  nuclear  technologies, 
including Advanced Modular Reactors, innovative fuels and materials.  

In parallel, Euratom research must support lifetime extensions of EU nuclear installations to ensure 
safe  operation  and  a  reliable  low-carbon  energy  supply.  This  requires  continuous  improvement  of 
safety standards and addressing issues such as ageing management and structural integrity.  

An  integrated  and  robust  radioactive  waste  management  system  is  a  prerequisite  to  all  nuclear 
activities  and  the  Euratom  programme  will  develop  solutions  for  new  technologies  (SMRs,  AMRs 
and fusion) and for waste streams without mature processing methods, as well as continue research 
on  optimising  safety  margins  of  disposal  technologies,  while  ensuring  reliable  knowledge 
management and transfer to successive generations. The Programme would enable more substantial 
support  for  Member  States  with  smaller  nuclear  inventories  or  those  in  early  stages  of  waste 
management development. 

An enhanced Euratom Programme should advance non-electric applications of nuclear technologies, 
including space exploration, marine propulsion, hydrogen production, district heating, and industrial 
uses.  It  must  also  expand  nuclear  medicine  research  to  combat  serious  diseases,  optimise  patient 
radiation  doses,  and strengthen preparedness  for  radiological  emergencies. Further, the Programme 
should explore innovative ionising radiation applications to support the EU’s strategic autonomy in 
critical materials, the circular economy, and environmental monitoring.  

For enhancing innovation and skills in the field of nuclear science and technology, the programme 
will  benefit  from  the  new  Horizon  Europe  Framework  Programme’s  rules  for  participation  and 
dissemination,  designed  to  simplify  access  further,  enhance  openness,  and  maximise  the  impact  of 
funding.  There  are  areas,  such  as  industrial  competitiveness  and  public  health,  where  joint  actions 
between the Euratom Programme and Union programmes can be of greater benefit to Union citizens 
than  having  actions  under  the  Programme  alone.  For  this  reason,  the  Programme  should  seek 
synergies with Horizon Europe and other Union programmes. Streamlined governance should allow 
the  Commission  to  discuss  all  aspects  of  fission  and  fusion  research,  including  the  ITER  project, 
with Member States and key stakeholders to provide strategic overview and to improve coordination 
between Euratom and national actions, while recognising that for Fusion for Energy, the governance 
with the Member States is covered by the Fusion for Energy Governing Board. 

2