Elnök asszony. – A következő napirendi pont a Marian-Jean Marinescu által az Ipari, Kutatási és Energiaügyi Bizottság nevében készített, a Fúziósenergia-fejlesztési és ITER Európai Közös Vállalkozásról szóló jelentésről folytatott vita (2018/2222(INI)) (A8-0393/2018)
Marian-Jean Marinescu, Raportor. – Doamna președintă, securitatea energetică este un domeniu strategic pentru Uniune, iar fuziunea nucleară este una dintre soluțiile viitoare pentru obținerea acestei necesități. În calitate de raportor al Parlamentului în acest dosar, consider că finanțarea pentru participarea europeană la proiectul ITER, care se referă la obținerea de energie electrică prin fuziune nucleară, trebuie să continue pe întreaga durată a următorului cadru financiar multianual.
Europa a jucat de la bun început un rol principal în proiectul ITER, dezvoltat în strânsă colaborare cu semnatarii non-europeni ai acordului. În calitate de raportor, am susținut acest proiect, având convingerea că trecerea la energia electrică produsă prin fuziune va schimba profund viitorul în domeniul energiei la nivel global.
Șase miliarde de euro va fi contribuția Euratom pentru ca Uniunea Europeană să rămână și în perioada 2021-2027 în acest proiect. Aceste șase miliarde nu sunt altceva decât o investiție în securitatea energetică a Uniunii.
Regret că Parlamentul nu este colegislator și că avem doar un rol consultativ în acest dosar.
Parlamentul European va continua să urmărească derularea acestui proiect în anii următori, în special prin rapoartele de descărcare de gestiune. Fondurile alocate trebuie să fie cheltuite eficient. Agenția europeană responsabilă trebuie să depună eforturi în continuare, împreună cu ceilalți parteneri, astfel încât să nu existe întârzieri în programul propus și nici depășirea costurilor evaluate.
„Catch the eye” eljárás
Flavio Zanonato (S&D). – Signora Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, voglio ringraziare il collega Marian-Jean Marinescu perché ho trovato il suo progetto di relazione largamente condivisibile e, dopo il voto in commissione ITRE, include anche molti degli emendamenti che ho presentato.
È a mio parere doveroso garantire adeguato finanziamento a ITER, che a oggi è riconosciuto globalmente come l'esperimento più accreditato a dimostrare la fattibilità della fusione nucleare.
L'Europa deve quindi continuare a svolgere un ruolo di primo piano nel progetto che, io trovo, ha grande valore simbolico oltre che scientifico. A Cadarache, infatti, le più grandi potenze mondiali, paesi che insieme rappresentano più della metà della popolazione globale, collaborano efficacemente alla riuscita di questo grande esperimento e ne condividono i risultati sperimentali.
È necessario, voglio aggiungere anche questo, e ciò è ben specificato nel testo che abbiamo votato e che voteremo, che l'organizzazione continui nel percorso di perfezionamento e razionalizzazione gestionale, evitando possibilmente che le tabelle di marcia vengano disattese e che si producano ulteriori ritardi e revisioni delle spese al rialzo.
Νότης Μαριάς (ECR). – Κυρία Πρόεδρε, το πρόγραμμα ITER, δηλαδή η ευρωπαϊκή κοινή επιχείρηση για την ανάπτυξη πυρηνικής σύντηξης, έχει ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον. Να πούμε ότι αυτή τη στιγμή, όπως αναφέρθηκε, συνεργάζονται πολύ σημαντικά μη ευρωπαϊκά κράτη, όπως είναι οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες, η Ρωσία, η Ιαπωνία, η Κίνα, η Νότια Κορέα και η Ινδία. Βεβαίως, η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση παίζει ένα σημαντικό ρόλο και αυτό δείχνει ότι η επένδυση στην οικονομία της γνώσης είναι κάτι το ιδιαίτερα σημαντικό. Φυσικά, θα πρέπει να προσέξουμε να μην ξεφύγει ο προϋπολογισμός. Γνωρίζουμε ότι δεν είναι εύκολες οι διαδικασίες και όλο το πείραμα. Ξέρουμε ότι πολλές φορές υπάρχουν αρκετά προβλήματα, αλλά στη βάση του ότι μπορούμε πραγματικά να επιμείνουμε σε αυτό το πρόγραμμα και, κυρίως, με έναν τρόπο που να μην ξεφύγει οικονομικά αλλά να συμβάλλει ταυτόχρονα στην ανάπτυξη της ίδιας της τεχνολογίας, θα είναι κάτι το ιδιαίτερα σημαντικό. Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, θα έλεγα ότι για ορισμένες πλευρές αυτού του προγράμματος χρηματοδότηση θα μπορούσε να δοθεί και σε ελληνικά ερευνητικά κέντρα και σε πανεπιστήμια, ούτως ώστε και αυτά να συμβάλλουν σε αυτή την κοινή προσπάθεια.
Michèle Rivasi (Verts/ALE). – Madame la Présidente, je m’inscris en faux par rapport à ce qui a été dit, parce que ce projet ITER n’est pas pertinent dans la mesure où il arrive trop tard. Que dit le GIEC? Il dit que, pour résoudre le problème du réchauffement climatique, il faut arriver à produire de l’électricité sans CO2 avant 2050. Or, le projet ITER a pris énormément de retard et le premier prototype pour fabriquer de l’électricité n’arrivera pas avant 2050.
On est donc en train de dépenser énormément d’argent pour un projet qui arrivera trop tard. Pourquoi énormément d’argent? Parce qu’au début, on nous a dit qu’ITER, c’était 5 milliards d’euros. On en est à 20 milliards d’euros, et le département américain de l’énergie a estimé le coût d’ITER, avec le fonctionnement, à 65 milliards d’euros. C’est vraiment surdimensionné.
De plus, c’est un projet très démesuré. Il est très centralisé et il y a énormément de problèmes techniques. On veut essayer de mettre le soleil dans une boîte et on est incapable de fabriquer la boîte. Il y a des problèmes de disruption, etc.
Comme disait mon collègue Marian-Jean Marinescu, c’est même un projet antidémocratique. Nous, parlementaires, n’avons pas la codécision. Le projet est mené dans le cadre du traité Euratom et seuls les États membres décident.
Par conséquent, il faut quand même revoir les choses de façon rationnelle et, à mon avis, ITER ne constitue pas la solution au réchauffement climatique.
Stanislav Polčák (PPE). – Paní předsedající, já bych chtěl říci, že jaderná energie přestavuje nízkouhlíkovou alternativu k fosilním palivům pro většinu členských států Evropské unie a představuje pro ně také klíčovou skladbu pro tvorbu energie v rámci jejich energetického mixu. Vyrábí se z ní téměř 30 % zdrojů energie pro EU a chtěl bych rovněž podotknout, že OSN v roce 2018 vydala projadernou zprávu se scénářem, jak progresivně pokračovat v ochraně životního prostředí dříve, než bude pozdě, s tím, že v ní vždy hraje podstatnou roli právě jaderná energetika.
Tady se bavíme o výzkumném projektu, který má nepochybně zpoždění, má své problémy, asi přichází také pozdě, ty kapitálové navýšené výdaje je nutné uhradit právě s ohledem na to, že ten výzkum, ta fúzní reaktorová část prostě může být skutečně velmi významným posunem vpřed a může nás jaksi pobídnout i k tomu, jak splnit pařížské klimatické cíle, takže já tuto zprávu beru na vědomí s tím, že je to zpoždění nemilé, ale každopádně představuje to pro nás jistý možný posun vpřed.
John Howarth (S&D). – Madam President, I would like to thank the rapporteur for a report that is perfectly sensible, as far as it goes. However, the obvious elephant in the room is the section that calls for clarification of the role of the United Kingdom. This does, of course, depend on the United Kingdom clarifying its own position. Unfortunately, our Prime Minister Ms May has made something of a mess of this, from the point where she said the UK wished to be outside of the Euratom Treaty.
The Joint European Torus (JET) based at Culham in my constituency is the place – the only place – that has actually made fusion happen, and it is an essential source of expertise. Without the work of JET, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Project will be subjected to further disruption and delay.
Before Mr Sam Gyimah, the UK’s last Science Minister, resigned over the mess that is the government’s Brexit negotiation, he announced the expansion of the Culham site, with more UK investment and more jobs. I would urge the Commission, when the opportunity arises, to resolve the uncertainty over JET and jobs at Culham as quickly as it can.
(„Catch the eye” eljárás vége)
Věra Jourová,Member of the Commission. – Madam President, thank you very much for the fruitful discussions today and in particular the rapporteur, Mr Marinescu, for his report and its call to the Council to approve the Commission’s proposal to continue funding ITER over the course of the next financing period.
As always, Parliament’s views and inputs are crucial to ensure effective European support for this important project. The energy transition and the fight against climate change constitute some of the greatest challenges we face today. In this context, it is essential to develop a low—carbon, environmentally friendly energy source that can work as a complement to renewables and fusion; as an energy source it holds a lot of promise.
ITER, a device of unprecedented scale and sophistication at global level, hosted on European soil, is getting the best world expertise. The project aims for key scientific breakthroughs in the development of fusion as a low-carbon and virtually inexhaustible energy source that should support the EU’s objectives to fight climate change. It is already bringing many concrete benefits for the European economy and society at large, not least through enabling the European industry and research community to enter new markets and develop international cooperation. It is also extremely promising in fulfilling the other dimensions of our energy union to make energy secure for our citizens while supporting growth and job creation.
We want to ensure that Europe continues leading the way on fusion energy. This is why it is so valuable to have the support of Parliament for the project. Thanks to this leadership in the construction of ITER, Europe will be in a privileged position to reap the benefits of constructing and cooperating the first generation of fusion power plants.
The proposed report comes at an important time for the project. In recent years ITER has undergone significant management improvements, which have produced tangible results. The construction of the project needed for the start of experiments is now around 60% complete and the assembly stage of the project will soon start, paving the way for the first experiments in 2022.
And to respond to Ms Rivasi’s contribution: it is true that the fusion will not be commercially available before the second half of the century and therefore does not enter into the portfolio of low-carbon technologies for our climate mitigation strategies up to 2050. However, climate change and decarbonisation of energy production are long-term challenges that will require viable and sustainable solutions, also post-2050. From that perspective fusion does offer attractive prospects for sustainable low-carbon energy strategies for the second half of the century, when fusion could come to represent a suitable complement to renewable energy sources.
The expected advantages of fusion in terms of low-cost fuel abundance and low environmental impact make its development worth pursuing from such a long-term perspective.
All the international stakeholders in ITER are working hard to ensure that the project continues to make steady progress in accordance with the revised schedule that was set in 2016 and endorsed by the Council last year. With the continuous support of the European Union for the project in the next multiannual financial framework, the project should therefore reach crucial stages, contributing to building the energy, security and low carbon economy of tomorrow.
PRÉSIDENCE: SYLVIE GUILLAUME vice-présidente
La Présidente. – Ce point de l’ordre du jour est clos.
Le vote aura lieu mardi, le 15 janvier 2019.
Déclarations écrites (article 162)
András Gyürk (PPE), írásban. – A világ energiafogyasztása elképesztő ütemben és folyamatosan nő. 50 évvel ezelőtt még harmadannyi energiát fogyasztottunk mint ma, a Nemzetközi Energiaügynökség előrejelzése szerint pedig a következő 20 évben további 30%-kal bővül a kereslet, így nincs más választásunk, mint hogy tartós kapacitásnövelésre rendezkedünk be. Újabb és újabb energiaforrásokat kell bevonnunk, miközben a mostani fogyasztásunk sem fenntartható. Az emberiség egyik legnagyobb aktuális kihívása ez, amelyben egyrészről biztosítanunk kell, hogy egyre többen élhessenek jobban, miközben meg kell védenünk a jövőnket, hogy a későbbi generációk számára is megmaradjon élhetőnek a bolygó.
Egy ilyen radikális kihívásra vélhetően egy radikális megoldás jelenthet csak választ, hiszen a meglévő rendszer finomhangolása valószínűleg nem elegendő. Egy ilyen megoldás lehet a magfúzióban rejlő energia felszabadítása. Tiszta, bőséges és mindenhol megtalálható, de sajnos technikailag egyeltalán nem egyszerű. A természet eme rejtélyének bonyolult és bizonytalan a megfejtése, de ha sikerül, az egy csapásra megoldhatja számtalan problémánkat. Úgy gondolom, hogy fontos, hogy megfelelően támogassuk a magfúziós kutatásokat, különös tekintettel az ITER-re. Ezekben a projektekben a világ vezető tudósainak több évtizednyi kutatómunkájával mérhetetlen tudás halmozódott fel, amelynek az értéke a jövőnkre nézve felbecsülhetetlen. Mint minden alapkutatás, ez sem ígér pontos határidőket, és nem nyújt minőségi garanciákat, de a tudomány fejlődése már csak ilyen.