Nuclear industry sees fertile ground in green Europe

It is redoubling efforts to promote its product as a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuels.

from the March 2, 2007 edition

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In France, for example, 80 percent of electricity is generated by nuclear power. A new-generation nuclear reactor has been approved and is set for construction on the Normandy coast, one of only two new reactors being built in Europe.

The state-owned electrical utility, EDF, remains committed to developing new nuclear plants and has been seeking to export its technology to Britain and Asia. And the French nuclear generator manufacturer Areva is aggressively looking for new customers outside France and is in negotiations to sell reactors to China.

But the French appear less enamored of nuclear power than their energy industry or government. The EU survey on nuclear power found that 52 percent of people in France believed the risks of nuclear energy outweighed its benefits because of the unresolved issue of how to dispose of nuclear waste.

The survey also found that 56 percent of the French believed nuclear power could easily be replaced by renewable energy sources like wind power. Other polls have found that climate change and global warming are major preoccupations for a large majority of people in France. The combination of all those interests creates a headache for politicians, as the French Socialist candidate for president, Ségolène Royal, found recently.

Last month Ms. Royal, responding to environmentalists' concerns about radioactive waste, called for a moratorium on new nuclear plants, including the one scheduled for construction in France. But within days, she had to pull back from that position after French energy companies complained that it could hurt their efforts to export nuclear reactor technology.

A similar discussion is brewing in Germany, where the main political parties agreed in 2000 to shut down all the country's 17 nuclear plants by 2020.

Chancellor Angela Merkel endorsed the deal when she formed her coalition government two years ago. But she also warned that what she called "an ideologically motivated nuclear phaseout" might make German energy companies less competitive in the market for selling nuclear know-how.

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SOURCE: International Atomic Energy Agency / RICH CLABAUGH – STAFF