Bratislava’s nuclear November

The last week of November 2007 in the Slovakian capital was simply designated as a “nuclear” week and most of us know why. From 26 to 27 November the inaugural European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) was hosted by the Slovak government. It was very important event, but during this “nuclear week” a kind of different meeting was also organised, not on such high level, but indirectly connected with the ENEF. On November 26 a short technical seminar organised by the Slovak Young Generation Network members in collaboration with FORATOM took place.

The initial idea to organize such a meeting was thought of during the visit of Sami Tulonen, Director Institutional Affairs of FORATOM, in Bratislava on September 2007. We decided to use presence of FORATOM people on ENEF to give Slovak young nuclear professionals an overview of Foratom, ENEF, nuclear lobbying and EU energy policy. Over 25 members of the Slovak YGN from around 5 “nuclear” companies, institutes and the Technical University attended.

The seminar was kicked off by Sami Tulonen, who stressed the role of ENEF its benefits and important actions. Stella Brozek, FORATOM Institutional Affairs Manager, then gave an interesting presentation, which covered three main topics:

First she spoke about FORATOM, who they are, what they do and what are the FORATOM key activities and messages.

The second topic of her presentation was nuclear lobbying - opportunities and challenges. She showed us the political side of the nuclear power industry in EU and we discussed nearly everything about lobbying, from definition of EU lobbying, through the questions like “why is it important to be present in Brussels” or “why is lobbying often misunderstood” to lobbying in practice in the EU institutions, advantages of lobbying for the EU decision-making process and the importance of nuclear lobbying.

The final part of her presentation was devoted to EU energy policy. She presented information about High Level Group on Nuclear Safety and Waste Management, the Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform and the European Parliament Report on Conventional Energy Sources and Energy Technology "Reul Report".

After more than two hours of interesting presentations all participants were invited to go to comfortable cellar for refreshments, where in informal atmosphere we could continue with our discussion.

This short technical seminar of the Slovak YGN received avery positive feedback from all participants. One short remark was from one of them: “It was really interesting to have d a look at the nuclear power industry from different perspectives, FORATOM and yours”.

Milos Lascek
Chair of Slovak YGN