THE ROLE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF EU

Abstract

The energy issue, which has strategic importance for the European Union (EU), is important for the efficient use of resources.This subject is studied with a comparative method. Because despite the high level of energy consumption in the EU, cannot be said to be sufficient for union. The EU produces about half of its energy itself and imports the other half. In the last ten years, 81 percent of oil consumption and 54 percent of gas consumption are imported. In terms of solid fuels, dependency on coal is around 38 percent. Recently, global energy consumption has grown by 2.2 percent in 2017 since 2013. The EU member countries share of oil consumption remained unchanged at 14 percent. The share of natural gas increased by 1 point to 13 percent. The share of EU countries in coal consumption remained stable at 6 percent. In these respect, the foreign-dependent EU needs to diversify its resources. Therefore, the Union should apply for new initiatives both in the import and production of energy. The main point of these initiatives is the source of the energy. The study focuses on the diversification of energy production rather than energy imports, and its place in EU policies will be discussed.. Benefits of these policies to the Union will be examined.. Finally, the production, use, advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy will be discussed.