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France, Britain reach nuclear plant deal
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| Grace Chng |
Mon, Mar 24, 2008
The Straits Times
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LONDON - A DEAL has been struck between Britain and France to construct a new generation of nuclear power stations and export the technology around the world in an effort to combat climate change.
Plans for the joint venture will be announced this week when French President Nicolas Sarkozy visits Britain, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper.
Britain hopes to take advantage of French expertise to build the power stations, which do not rely on carbon-dioxide-emitting fossil fuels such as oil and coal.
France is a leader in the nuclear power industry, with nearly 79per cent of its electricity produced by 59 nuclear power plants. The UK, by contrast, derives only 20per cent of its electricity from an ageing stock of 14 such power stations.
| Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown hopes the partnership will create a skilled British labour force which can then work in partnership with France to sell nuclear power stations to other countries over the next 15 years as part of an international effort to reduce carbon emissions by 50per cent by 2050.
Nuclear power is undergoing a global renaissance after falling out of favour for more than two decades because of fears over the safety of plants and the disposal of spent radioactive fuel rods.
Surging prices for oil and gas have helped to make nuclear power more cost-competitive. It is also said to be a 'clean' way of producing electricity. Because no fossil fuels are burned, it does not produce soot or the 'greenhouse gases' such as carbon dioxide which have been blamed for global warming.
A Nobel-Prize-winning UN network of climate and other scientists last year warned of rising seas, droughts, severe weather and other dire consequences without sharp cutbacks in global greenhouse gas emissions.
But critics of nuclear power point to the potential for radiation leaks - particularly in poorer countries where safety measures could be lax - and the problem of disposing of highly radioactive nuclear fuel rods.
They also point to the potential for the misuse of nuclear know-how by countries such as Iran, which the West has accused of trying to build nuclear weapons behind the guise of energy production.
Indonesia is being urged to quash plans for a nuclear power plant on the earthquake-prone island of Java.
Currently, there are 435 atomic reactors generating electricity in 31 countries across the globe. They fill 6.5 per cent of the world's total energy demand and use close to 70,000 tonnes of enriched uranium a year.
Another 29 plants are currently under construction and there are concrete plans to build another 64, according to a report in Germany's Spiegel Online.
But Friends of the Earth told the BBC that developing nuclear technology is 'nonsense' when it comes to tackling climate change.
'Nuclear power is limited, dangerous and requires a lot of high-tech skills to deal with the waste. By far the better technology is renewables,' said campaigner Neil Crumpton.
He said desert climates need to look to solar energy, while more northerly countries should embrace wind power.
'It is these safe, simple, easily constructed technologies that the UK and all other countries should be promoting,' he said.
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