Nuclear energy was one of the central topics of the conference "Energy 2026 – Croatia at the Decisive Crossroads of the Decade", held on 27 January in Zagreb and organised by Jutarnji list.
The first panel of the conference, titled “Nuclear Croatia 2035: Scenarios, Models and Decisions”, featured Director of the Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar (EIHP) Dražen Jakšić, Director of Enconet Josip Vuković and State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy Vedran Špehar, moderated by Mislav Togonal.
Photo: Goran Mehkek / CROPIX
The Director of EIHP spoke about the reasons behind the shutdown of nuclear power plants in Germany, reflected on the role and share of nuclear energy in electricity generation in the EU and Croatia, the availability and sources of uranium, the development of nuclear energy in Europe, as well as the organisational and financial challenges faced by projects and the differing experiences of countries in implementing nuclear projects.
He emphasised that nuclear energy is a low-carbon energy source that contributes to decarbonisation and the energy transition. Speaking about nuclear fuel, he highlighted that Europe is almost entirely dependent on uranium imports, but noted certain advantages, such as good diversification of fuel sources, lower procurement risk, and a relatively small share of fuel costs in total costs. Regarding the construction of nuclear power plants, he pointed out that while there are positive examples worldwide, Europe has gone through a long period of underinvestment, resulting in significant delays and cost overruns in recent nuclear projects, citing examples from Finland and France. He also referred to Croatia’s existing energy strategy, which, as he noted, did consider nuclear energy, but at the time it was deemed too expensive a technology and therefore was not included in all scenarios. “Given new trends and technologies, as well as increasingly ambitious energy targets, the time is ripe to update our energy strategy,” Jakšić concluded.
A detailed report is available at the following link: https://novac.jutarnji.hr/novac/aktualno/nuklearna-hrvatska-2035-smrovi-sigurnost-prevlaka-tanja-lokacije-15665834
