CONFERENCE OUTLINE

Nuclear energy is one of the present day`s key issues of both domestic and international politics. Three neighboring countries, the Czech Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland have different views considering nuclear energy sector. The Czech Republic plans to develop its nuclear sector, the Republic of Poland started the process of constructing its first nuclear power plant and the Federal Republic of Germany decided to close all its nuclear power plants until 2022 in accordance with "Atomausstieg" policy. All these events will eventually lead to great changes in electricity production, demand and transportation among these neighbors and in Central Europe in general. Also, these events will have impact on bilateral and foreign both political and business relations of concerned countries. This four-panel conference opened the discussion on this topic within this triad on the highest level, aimed at opening a communication channel to express and understand the fears, problems and reasons of policies of each country, thus broaden the mutual understanding among them in the light of recent nuclear events in the world.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM (PDF)

Panel I: Changes in nuclear energy sector and their effect on geopolitical situation of neighboring countries

Panelists:
Hanna Trojanowska (Polish Government Commissioner for Nuclear Energy, Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Poland)
Jörg Ranau (Deputy Director-General, Export Control and Technology, German Federal Foreign Office)
Roman Portužák (Director of Power Engineering Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade)

How would the conctruction (PL) or expansion (CZ) of nuclear installations or divergence from nuclear energy (DE) affect neighbourly relations? What would be the effect of growing German dependency on foreign natural gas and inland renewables? How could the new national energy mixes influence geopolitical relations? What actions will EU countries take to put through their respective conceptions of nuclear energy sector in the EU?

Panel II: Stability of transmission lines and future changes of cross-border electricity flows

Panelists:
Jerzy Dudzik (Director of System Management Department, PSE Operator S.A.)
Gunter Scheibner (Head, Coordination and Network Billing Section, 50Hertz Transmission GmbH)
Pavel Šolc (Director, Corporate Services, ČEPS, a.s.)

What would be the effect of German withdrawal from nuclear energy on stability of transmission lines? Could we await some positive development in investment and licencing process of linear structures? Is decentralization and smart grids in Europe imminent? How real is the scenario of CZ and PL being exporters of electricity and D being net importer? How to deal with necessary massive contruction and modernization of electricity grids? Could we await far better cross-border integration of electricity grids?

Panel III: The Effect of different development in nuclear energy sector on industry

Panelists:
Alois Tost (Independent Expert Consultant)
Jaroslav Míl (Former president, Confederation of Industry on the Czech Republic)
Marek Kłoczko (Secretary General, Polish National Chamber of Commerce)

Would German divergence from nuclear energy affect competitiveness of German industry and trade? Could new Czech reactors lead to comparative advantage of CZ? What changes in electricity prices could be awaited? Could raised electricity prices lead to delocalization of European companies? Is new era of renewable resources coming? What would be the German impulse on renewables`s sector in whole Europe?

Panel IV: Future of nuclear energy regulation in the EU

Panelist:
Peter Faross (Acting Deputy Director-General, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission)
Václav Bartuška (Czech Government's Special Envoy for Energy Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic)

Conference program (PDF)
Conference schedule (PDF)


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