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EU to raise nuclear research spending by 15%

Average annual funding for nuclear research is expected to grow almost 15% under the European Union's planned Horizon 2020 program. Fusion programs account for 9/10 of the budget. Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness. Running from 2014 to 2020 with an €80bn (US$104bn) budget, the EU's new program for research and innovation is part of the drive to create new growth and jobs in Europe.



Average annual support for the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) in France drew a combined €759m (US$985m) per year from the EU's outgoing research spending scheme – the Seventh Framework Program (FP7) for 2007-2013. Under the European Commission's Horizon 2020 as currently proposed, support under these headings would total €872m (US$1.13bn) per year on average for the five-year period 2014-2018, with costs assuming 2% annual inflation.



The main objectives of the Horizon 2020 program is to focus exclusively on improving nuclear safety, security and radiation protection (including nuclear medicine); and to contribute to long-term decarbonization of energy.The European Parliament and EU Council of Ministers are expected to approve the budgets in mid-2013 ahead of the program's launch on 1 January 2014.

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