BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced €200 million in EU risk guarantees to spur private investment in new nuclear technologies in April 2026. The measure is intended to draw private capital into the development of next-generation reactors across the bloc.

The announcement accompanied an Energy Union communication issued the same month, which set out the Commission's case for nuclear power as part of Europe's energy mix. The April 2026 communication stated: "Nuclear power plants supply clean power suitable for enhancing system integration and providing flexibility facilitating further roll-out of other clean technologies."

The communication identified small modular reactors and the continued operation of existing facilities as priorities. It stated: "New small modular reactors or avoiding the premature retirement of existing nuclear capacity can help reducing the need for fossil fuel use." The communication also stated: "There is unlocked potential regarding existing nuclear power plants."

Von der Leyen, who became President of the European Commission in 2019, framed the policy within a broader argument about Europe's strategic position. "Europe can no longer be a custodian for the old-world order, that has gone and will not return," she said. She also said: "The EU should not be influenced by Russia, Turkey, or China."

The push to channel EU funds into nuclear technologies marks a shift from the policy environment that followed the March 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan. Within days of that accident, Germany decided to accelerate its nuclear phase-out. At the time, von der Leyen served as Germany's Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and was a full member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet. Germany's reactor commission later concluded that the conditions behind the Fukushima accident were "practically impossible" in Germany and that plants were safer than the Japanese reactors that failed.

The €200 million guarantee facility is designed to reduce financial risk for private investors backing new nuclear projects, including small modular reactor designs that have attracted developer interest across several member states. The Commission's April 2026 communication positioned such investments alongside renewable energy in the bloc's strategy to reduce fossil fuel use.