euro|topics - New nuclear power plants for the UK

Main focus of Friday, January 11, 2008

New nuclear power plants for the UK

Like France and Finland, the UK is promoting greater use of nuclear power. Given increasing oil prices and climate warming, the British government sees nuclear power as a clean and secure source of energy, and has approved construction of new atomic power plants.

The Guardian - United Kingdom

"What is so wrong with nuclear power?" asks the daily. "To answer succinctly: 'its current economics make it an unattractive option for new, carbon-free generating capacity and there are also important issues of nuclear waste'. That is not from a green pressure group or some malcontent scientist. It is from the government's own energy white paper, published in 2003. The problems have not been solved in the intervening five years. ... New plants, if they ever actually arrive, are a long way off and the decision to build them should not be allowed to obstruct the development of an intelligent, less centralised energy policy of which nuclear can only be a part. A greener framework would rely on three big things: serious efficiency in energy consumption; much heavier investment in renewables; and a move from a command-and-control national grid to microgeneration and community power plants." (11/01/2008)

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - Germany

Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger finds Germany's phase-out of nuclear power a "quixotic strategy," and praises instead the approach of Gordon Brown: "The British government – and note, it's a left-wing one – has a totally different outlook. Given the goal of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions, the government has now decided to build new atomic power plants. Nuclear power is secure and affordable, has low pollution levels, is dependable, and prevents one-sided dependencies. Clearly, such arguments - and the financial one is the weakest of them – should be heard here as well. But that's not the case. Wind turbines are our answer to the conflicting goals of climate protection and the provision of dependable energy. The British do not believe in such fairy tales." (11/01/2008)

Irish Examiner - Ireland

"In Ireland, Energy Minister Eamon Ryan suggested that we should open a debate on nuclear power so 'all the issues can be brought into the open'", notes the daily. "The unavoidable reality is that we should be doing much more than debating nuclear power. We need to take the hard decision now on whether or not to go down the nuclear road to ensure the security of energy supply in the decades ahead. Doing anything less is a fool's gamble. We simply cannot afford years of prevarication and endless debate. At the moment we are in a period of transition on energy and it would be reckless to believe that we can find new methods to completely replace conventional - including nuclear - generation processes in the time at our disposal. Nobody can be certain what the future holds but we need to plan for the worst-case scenario and if that includes nuclear then so be it. The time for debate has long gone." (11/01/2008)

» To the complete press review of Friday, January 11, 2008

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