Magazine / Society / Nuclear energy / Debate | 13/02/2007

A Comeback for Nuclear Power?

Russia's cuts in oil supplies earlier this year, its gas dispute with Ukraine last year, and the alarming facts that have come to light about climate change have reignited the debate about nuclear power in Europe.

When European Commission President José Manuel Barroso presented his Green Paper on energy policy a year ago he called for "a debate without taboos" on the future of nuclear power.

A year later, the Commission went a step further with the package of proposals on energy and climate change it presented on 10 January 2007. The Brussels account of the "European Approach to Nuclear Power, Safety and Security" states that "reinforcing nuclear power generation could also represent one option for reducing CO2 emissions."

In the debate about combating climate change, this argument in particular is being used with increasing force - and not only by the nuclear power industry. According to Barroso, the Commission has no intention of taking sides but simply wants to provide the facts and statistics "to get this vital debate going".

The package of proposals certainly did that. The 152 nuclear power plants spread over the EU's 27 member states currently generate over 30 percent of Europe's electricity. The EU document points out that to meet the expected energy demand "decisions could be made on new investments or on the life extension of some plants."

France continues to pin its hopes on nuclear energy

Countries like France, where 58 nuclear power plants generate over two-thirds of the country's electricity, have long since adopted this view. In addition to France Finland has now decided to construct a new reactor. Its ruling Centre Party plans to continue expanding the country's nuclear power facilities in response to the problem of climate change.

Meanwhile, other countries are boosting operations at existing plants: the Netherlands has decided to extend the operating life of its plants and in Sweden the operators of all ten reactors have announced increases in output and modernisation programmes. The latter were called for following an incident at Sweden's Forsmark nuclear power plant. "The ambivalent attitude towards nuclear power is bad for energy security. Opposition to nuclear research has hindered modernisation," the Swedish daily Göteborgs-Posten wrote in its edition of August 4, 2006.

Withdrawal from the withdrawal?

The Commission's proposals have triggered vigorous debate in countries that aimed to phase out their nuclear power programmes. Germany, Belgium and Spain still plan to hang on to their plans for gradual withdrawal, but over the past few weeks the pressure has mounted.

We must consider the consequences of withdrawing from nuclear power, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pointed out after Russia shut down its Druzhba oil pipeline, which runs through Belarus, in January. However, at a press conference following a cabinet meeting held on January 11 she stressed: "I will honour the terms of the agreement". The decision to phase out nuclear power was made by the red-green government but also forms part of the coalition pact between Germany's Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.

Eastern Europe, on the other hand, has adopted a very different stance. The Baltic States have agreed on the joint construction of a reactor in Lithuania. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov has called on the European Union to allow the Kozloduy nuclear power station to be put into operation again. This should be "part of a pan-European concept", Parvanov asserted at a ceremonial parliamentary session marking the country's accession to the EU. In compliance with EU requirements, the Soviet-style reactor was shut down on the country's accession at the beginning of the year.

Divided public opinion

As a glance at the results of the most recent Eurobarometer survey confirms, public opinion on the subject of nuclear energy is divided within the EU. According to the survey, over a third of EU citizens oppose the use of nuclear power. However, opinions vary greatly from country to country.

In countries like Austria and Greece, where there are no nuclear power plants in operation, well over 70 percent of respondents were against nuclear power. In around half of the EU member states, nuclear energy has more detractors than proponents. In the new member states, the undecided are in the majority. The Swedes have the most positive attitude towards nuclear power (41 percent in favour), followed by the Slovaks (37 percent) and the Lithuanians (37 percent).

Experts are also divided on the issue. In view of what he calls "the toughest challenge humanity has ever known", the British scientist and ecological pioneer James Lovelock called on his "ecologist friends to reconsider their blind confidence in sustainable development and renewable energy" and "give up their obstinate opposition to nuclear energy" in an article published in the January 7th edition of the Italian daily La Stampa.

Increased government investments?

Environmentalists remain adamant in their criticism of nuclear energy. At the same time as the European Commission put forward its energy policy proposals, Greenpeace published a new study which claims that climate disaster can be averted - without coal and without nuclear power plants. "Nuclear power is expensive, dangerous, and requires heavy state subsidies. We won't be able to afford it in future," Sven Teske of Greenpeace International told the Austrian newspaper Der Standard in an interview.

The issue of profitability is particularly controversial among experts. Despite all the opportunities nuclear energy offers, financing initial investments remains a challenge, the International Energy Agency stressed in its World Energy Outlook for 2006.

"Without massive state interventions there will be no revival of nuclear technology," Gerd Rosenkranz of the Deutsche Umwelthilfe environmental organisation also concluded in an article published in February 2006 as part of the "Nuclear Power - Myth and Reality" study carried out by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

What about nuclear waste?

Astonishingly little attention is being paid to the problem of nuclear waste in the renewed debate about nuclear energy. In its nuclear energy report, the "Nuclear Illustrative Programme", the European Commission notes that only the problem of low-level radioactive waste has been solved within the EU. The Commission adds that "up to now no country has found a definitive solution" to the problem of the 500 cubic metres of high-level radioactive waste generated each year, adding that this was mainly due to "problems of a socio-political rather than technological nature".

With plans to phase out nuclear power, expand its use or extend current operating licenses, Europe is divided on the issue of nuclear energy. At the press conference that followed José Manuel Barroso's presentation of his energy policy proposals in Brussels, a Belgian journalist asked whether the Commission was now advising those member states that had decided to phase out nuclear power to change their policy. "It is not the task of the Commission to tell states whether they should have more, less, or no nuclear power at all in their energy mix," Barroso replied. "As far as the issue of nuclear power is concerned, the Commission remains agnostic."

Danièle Weber

Danièle Weber was born in Luxembourg and studied agronomy and journalism at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. Since 1992 she has worked as ...
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