"If Europe is still importing LNG from Russia, it is because there is a need," a France-based gas trader said. "With our other main suppliers, such as Norway, operating at maximum capacity, it will be hard to completely stop the flow of Russian LNG. We are still not completely out of the crisis."

Russia’s gas-transit agreement with Ukraine also expires at the end of the year, and there’s little clarity as of now if these volumes will still find their way to Europe.

All space missions depend on a power source to support systems for communications, life-support and science experiments. Nuclear power has the potential to dramatically increase the duration of future space missions and their scientific value.

Germany would significantly increase research funding for fusion with an additional EUR370 million (USD403 million) over the next five years.

While hydrogen is at the core of Europe’s plans to eventually wean itself off fossil fuels, there are currently few buyers for the gas as it’s expensive to produce and requires infrastructure investments to make its use more viable.

Polish industrial group Industria has signed a letter of intent with UK-based zero emissions energy and technology developer Chiltern Vital Group to collaborate on the deployment of Rolls-Royce small modular reactors in Poland.

Deputy Prime Minister and OPEC+ envoy Alexander Novak drove home the official line that sanctions make Russia stronger when he said in October, referring to the redirection of exports, "the main consumption of energy resources will in future be in [the Asia-Pacific] region... We would have to do this anyway. We just sped up a bit."

According to the French Economy Ministry: "This cooperation will concern, among other things, the nuclear construction programmes envisaged in the two countries, the analysis of new technologies such as small modular reactors or advanced technology reactors, the development of a European supply chain, the fuel cycle, nuclear power and the strengthening of nuclear training courses within the two countries."

SEFE’s trading of Russian LNG is controversial in Berlin, where lawmakers have urged the company to sever its links with Moscow. Germany opposes LNG imports from Russia, though it hasn’t banned them.

The government on Wednesday slashed its growth forecast for this year to 0.2% from 1.3%, after a contraction in 2023.

Europe risks losing out to China and the US in the race to supply the technologies needed to roll out renewables and slash industrial emissions.

“The European Commission’s carbon capture ambition is significant at ~450 million tonnes of CO2 by 2050, of which around 40% will come from direct air capture (DAC) alone, the most expensive carbon capture process.

While the outlook is weak, the bank said it expects no major deterioration in the labour market, which has insulated the economy so far, and Germany was not facing a broad-based, prolonged recession.

The UK’s nuclear sector has launched its first sector-wide initiative to attract and recruit people over the next two decades into the civil and defence nuclear workforce.

A key focus of the partnership will be on hydrogen isotope management within the fusion fuel cycle, safely removing, processing, and reinjecting fuel to the plasma in a continuous manner.