Nuclear Industry Hails Climate-Driven "Renaissance"
Date: 07-Sep-07
Country: UK
Author: Jeremy Lovell
The term "renaissance" was the buzz word as nuclear industry
players emerged from the 21-year-long shadow of the Chernobyl
nuclear disaster and gathered in London for two days of talks at
the 32nd annual symposium of the World Nuclear Association.
"Nuclear power is now a fully competitive electricity
source," said WNA chairman Ralf Gueldner. "Today we see the
nuclear renaissance begin to reach full bloom."
Nuclear power now provides 16 percent of a world electricity
demand predicted to at least keep pace with the 50 percent
growth in population expected by 2075 -- and nuclear optimists
see that share rising.
Gueldner said he even expected his own country Germany to
reverse its current policy of phasing out nuclear power plants.
Scientists predict that global average temperatures will
rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century due to
carbon gases from burning fossil fuels for power and transport,
bring climatic and humanitarian disasters.
As the world wakes up to the threat governments are seeking
to curb carbon emissions through clean sources of power that do
not harm economic growth.
The nuclear power industry, despite environmentalists'
worries about security, nuclear weapons proliferation and the
fact that nuclear waste remains deadly for thousands of years,
sees itself as an obvious choice.
"The prospects for nuclear energy are more promising today
than at any time since its development," said Dennis Spurgeon,
US Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, who also termed it
a "global renaissance".
"There is now a worldwide momentum for the expansion of
nuclear power."
At present there are some 429 reactors operating globally,
with 25 more under construction, 76 planned and 162 proposed.
Coal-rich China, which is building a coal-fired power
station a week to fuel its booming economy, has also embarked on
a major nuclear power programme.
International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei
said nuclear power had a role with 1.6 billion people without
any access to electricity and the developed world using 170
times more electric power than the developing nations.
But he said the world had to guard "relentlessly" against
the dangers of weapons proliferation.
"Nuclear power can't be an exclusive solution for wealthy
nations," he said. "But the challenges of introducing nuclear
power in developing countries are formidable."
Environmentalist James Lovelock, who outraged the green
movement several years ago by saying nuclear power had a role to
play, introduced a more sombre note to the gathering.
"World systems are already in failure mode," he said. "The
world itself is in no danger and we as a species will probably
survive. What is at risk is our civilisation."
Cutting carbon emissions would, like a kidney failure
patient on dialysis, buy time. But temperatures would inevitable
rise bringing floods and famines and forcing the surviving
humans into isolated areas until the planet recovered.
