Nuclear power in Europe

Are we witnessing the beginning of a real-life satire, at once amusing and terrifying? Its theme is the smothering of the nuclear power risk by catastrophic climate change and the oil crisis. At the G8 meeting in Hokkaido last week the US president, George Bush, reiterated his plea for the construction of new nuclear energy plants. At the start of this week, Gordon Brown, announced the fast-tracking of eight new reactors and called for “a renaissance of nuclear power” in a “post-oil economy”. It is as if a world that wishes to save the climate must learn to appreciate the beauty of nuclear energy - or “green energy”, as Germany’s Christian Democratic Union general secretary Ronald Pofalla has rechristened it. Given this new turn in the politics of language, we should remind ourselves of the following. (more…)

Vienna - Nuclear power is on the advance worldwide, and a recent safety scare in Europe is highly unlikely to stop it.

Nearly 440 nuclear reactors churn out electricity across the globe and more than 30 new plants are being built as the world’s energy appetite grows and oil prices soar. (more…)

“It’s time to look to the French,” New York Times columnist Roger Cohen wrote in January. “They’ve got their heads in the right place, with nuclear power enjoying a 70 percent approval rating.” Similarly, presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain has wondered, “If France can produce 80 percent of its electricity with nuclear power, why can’t we?” Even Southern Republicans are becoming Francophiles, with Georgia State Rep. Amos Amerson, chairman of the Georgia House Science and Technology Committee, asking how the French system might help the United States in its “efforts to obtain cleaner, cheaper, more stable energy.” (more…)

Construction costs for power plants have more than doubled since 2000, according to new index data to be released Tuesday, and inflationary pressures will continue to put the squeeze on electricity prices.

The findings are bad news for consumers and utilities alike, and help explain why power-plant development has become something of a quagmire in the U.S. — with no type of plant emerging as a
reasonably priced option that can meet rising demand for electricity. (more…)

PARIS - Slammed by the surging cost of energy imported from volatile regions and befuddled about how to meet their pledges for tackling global warming, European countries are reviving nuclear’s role in their energy strategies.

Pro-nuclear countries are pushing ahead with plans for next-generation reactors, encountering so far either minimal opposition or even acquiescence. In some anti-nuclear countries, decisions to phase out power are being reversed or are under threat. (more…)

EUOBSERVER / FOCUS - Europe’s top energy official has called for a fresh discussion of the pros and cons of nuclear energy “without taboos.”

Energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs wrote on Friday (16 May) in his blog that “Use of nuclear energy … would increase our energy independence and supply security as well as contribute to the limitation of CO2 emissions.” (more…)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Brussels has called on EU member states to end the six-year deadlock over one of Europe’s touchiest topics and agree common nuclear safety rules as well as ways in which to store nuclear waste.

“It is an absolute necessity,” EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs told EUobserver on Thursday (22 May), while blaming EU governments for a lack of political will to give Brussels a stronger say on the issue. (more…)

PRAGUE, May 24 (IPS) - The EU seems to be backing nuclear energy as the response to global warming and gas dependency, but civic groups warn that safety and waste processing should be preconditions for the industry’s growth.

These issues were debated in Prague May 22-23 at the second European Nuclear Energy Forum, an EU (European Union) initiative to discuss opportunities and risks of nuclear energy. (more…)

PRAGUE (AFP) — European power companies called Friday for urgent EU-wide moves to clear the way for new nuclear plants, stressing the security and climate change dangers of a failure to act.

“We have a barrel of oil costing 135 dollars a barrel, it is urgent to act. Industry cannot wait for a gradual approach to lead to convergence (in harmonised safety rules),” Electricite de France board member Bruno Lescoeur warned on the second, final day of the European Nuclear Energy Forum. (more…)

If you listen to the rhetoric, nuclear power is back. Smashing atoms will replace burning carbon-based coal, gas and oil. In the face of a disaster movie-like future of runaway climate change–bringing drought, floods, famine and social breakdown–carbon-free nukes are cast as the deus ex machina to save us at the last minute. (more…)