(NewsNation) — As oil and natural gas prices continue to rise amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is calling on Europe to restart nuclear power stations that have been shut down and said doing so is a matter of national and international security.
“Hopefully, it is now extremely obvious that Europe should restart dormant nuclear power stations and increase power output of existing ones. This is *critical* to national and international security,” Musk tweeted Sunday.
Right now, nuclear power accounts for nearly 20% of the electricity generated in America. It does so through a process called fission, which is the reaction in which an atom is split, releasing energy. The U.S. has nuclear power plants in 30 states.
Germany, which gets about half of its natural gas from Russia, has been turning away from nuclear in recent years. The country plans to close its three remaining nuclear power plants by the end of 2022 — a decision that calls into question how reliant the country could become on Russian energy moving forward.
The U.S. and its allies have hesitated to impose energy sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sector but that could change. A bipartisan group in Congress is considering banning U.S. imports of Russian oil, but those conversations are still ongoing.
Right now, the U.S. only gets about 3 percent of its oil from Russia. By comparison, Russian oil accounts for 25 percent of Europe’s supply.
As for natural gas, the U.S. does not rely on Russia for its supply, but almost 40% of Europe’s gas comes from Russia.
Experts NewsNation spoke to said nuclear power would not necessarily eliminate the need for oil but could help reduce our reliance on natural gas for power.
Experts that are opposed to more nuclear say building new plants, or increasing production at existing ones, especially in Europe, is slow and expensive. They suggest most plants are already operating near capacity or have been shut down for other reasons.
In a separate tweet, Musk called on the U.S. to “increase oil and gas output immediately” and said “extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures.”
On Monday, the average price for a gallon of gasoline surged above $4 in the U.S., the highest price drivers have faced since July 2008.
The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline has soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week, reaching $4.06 Monday, according to auto club AAA. That price is now up 50% from a year ago.
