The European Commission (EC) has adopted proposals calling for the public and private sectors to help invest an additional 50 billion euro in low carbon technologies including nuclear.

The purpose of the commission’s proposals is to address climate change, secure European energy supply, and secure the competitiveness of EU economies. The proposals were made in order to develop by 2020 the necessary technologies for the EU’s energy future.

The commission says that an additional investment of EUR 50 billion in energy technology research will be needed over the next 10 years. This means almost tripling investment in energy technology research in the EU from EUR 3 billion to EUR 8 billion a year.

The investment proposal is a part of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), the technology element of the EU’s energy and climate policy. One of the SET-Plan’s objectives is that the first Generation-IV prototype nuclear reactor units should be in operation in 2020.

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