Nuclear power plays an important role in Europe's energy mix today. Considering the manifold environmental and health hazards
related to all phases of nuclear power production which may cause considerable negative externalities it is remarkable that
the whole issue of using taxes as instruments to internalise the externalities associated with nuclear power is completely
neglected in the literature. The paper provides a rationale for taxing nuclear power which is based on an analysis of its
social costs and of potential windfall profits for the nuclear industry generated by EU policies. After giving an overview
over existing nuclear taxes in the nuclear power-generating EU countries, we elaborate the case for channelling revenues from
a nuclear power tax into the EU budget as sustainability-oriented tax-based own resource replacing a part of national contributions
within a fiscally neutral approach to reform the current system of own resources. Finally, the potential revenues from an
EU-wide nuclear power tax are estimated.
JEL-Codes:H23, H87, Q58
Keywords:EU budget, Reform, Own Ressources, Nuclear Power Tax