the comeback of nuclear power in Europe
Shocked by the accidents at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in 1979 in the U.S. and the 1986 disaster in Chernobyl (Ukraine), nuclear power suffered a serious setback as new projects had been put on hold. Numerous countries like Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany decided to phase out their nuclear power stations. Most of these countries held referendums in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. Next to the possibility of a core meltdown that can not be ruled out completely, the question remains how to dispose of the toxic waste. It’s obvious that we may not burden future generations with the task of dealing with the radioactive products of nuclear power generation. Nor is it possible to guarantee that an accident in a nuclear reactor can’t happen anymore. Back in 2007, an earthquake hit the Japanese Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant - the largest nuclear generating station in the world. It is still shut down as the earthquake caused significant damage to the reactor and highlighted the potential threat, just 135 miles north-west of Tokyo - the world’s most populous metropolitan area, home to about 35 million people.
On the other hand, today’s state-of-the-art nuclear reactors are relatively safe, way better than most of the operating nuclear power stations today.
Given the situation we’re facing these days, we simply cannot rule out any available source of energy, especially one that is reliable and virtually carbon-free. Rising energy-demand in addition to scarce resources and a planet concerned with global warming have prompted a shift in the public opinion. The oil price spike in July 2008 and the gas dispute between Russia and the Ukraine last month raised awareness for the benefits of nuclear energy. While hefty fluctuations in oil prices have a significant effect on the cost of generating electricity from oil and gas, rising prices for uranium have a barely noticeable influence on electricity prices. The challenges of climate change and the energy crisis are so big that we cannot rule out any option of generating electricity. Sure, renewables should be our priority in the long-term, but nuclear power is needed to meet our energy needs and reduce our carbon dioxide emissions simultaneously without allowing electricity prices to skyrocket.
So-called “clean coal” is not the solution since carbon capture and storage technology reduces the efficiency of power plants and drives up costs. Though it will also be part of the future energy mix since coal is the only fossil fuel where the U.S. has abbundant reserves.
Even countries that strongly opposed nuclear power in the past are now gradually changing their mind. The nuclear renaissance cannot be halted. Europe’s first new nuclear power plant in more than three decades will be built in Finland. Sweden, which had decided to phase out all its nuclear power stations in 1981 - but has not phased out any except one - recently scrapped its ban on new nuclear power stations and announced plans to replace the aging nps generating the bulk of the country’s electricity by new ones. Great Britain plans to build eight new nuclear generating stations, France stated its willingness to build a new one in Flamanville, Normandy. Eastern European countries are also rethinking their nuclear energy policy while China is likely to start constructing eight new nuclear power plants in the next three years alone in an attempt to doulbe its nuclear capacity until 2020, which would mean that the share of nuclear power in the Chinese energy mix still would be as low as 5%. Currently, China has 11 reactors in operation. While numerous countries in Central Europe are about to expand their nuclear capacities, Germany is still committed to its phase-out plan. However, some parties are favoring to halt the phase-out while new reactors are being planned along the country’s borders to fill the gap in energy supplies which might occur if Germany continues on this path. Check out my post “Wrong-Way Driver Germany“.
Nuclear energy is not 100% safe, but it’s much safer than ever before before and it makes more sense than ever before.
http://www.star-telegram.com/279/story/1188253.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/02/04/China_plans_major_nuclear_power_expansion/UPI-53361233761815/
