Nuclear energy forum launched in Bratislava

Opening the forum, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico stressed that renewable energy sources were not a cure-all, and pointed out that some, such as biofuels, were even being increasingly criticised by environmentalists. He said it was therefore important to concentrate on other energy sources, especially nuclear energy, and to step up efforts on energy savings.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek stressed the need to respect EU member states' decisions regarding the choice of energy mix. Deciding whether to build new nuclear facilities is a political decision, Topolánek insisted, adding that ENEF would offer the kind of expert input that is needed for an informed debate. The Forum must not become a platform for propaganda, he pleaded, but a platform for discussion that politicians could build upon.

At the end of his speech, Topolánek called upon ENEF to consider issuing a recommendation for the international conference on climate change in Bali next week. According to him, the EU should give clear backing to nuclear energy as a way to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs conveyed a welcome message from the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso. Barroso welcomed ENEF's launch at a time when Europe is faced with common challenges concerning global warming and increased competition for scarce energy resources due to the rise of new economic giants – China and India.

"We are now standing on the brink of a third industrial revolution: the Low Carbon Age," Barroso said in the message. "Nuclear energy can have a role to play in meeting our growing concerns about security of supply and CO2 emission reduction".

"It is of course not the EU's role to decide for member states whether they use nuclear energy or not", Barroso went on. "But we can make a significant contribution to the debate in areas such as research and safety and offer a platform for an open dialogue". 

Bruno Lescoeur from the French state-controlled energy firm EDF highlighted three areas considered of "utmost importance" to the nuclear industry: harmonisation of rules at European level, governmental guarantees to stabilise the sector and increase investor confidence, and support for scientific and technical education.

On the waste issue, Philipp Pradel, chairman of the Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technological Platform (SNETP), said many of the existing waste and safety problems could be solved by new technologies, such as fourth generation nuclear reactors.

Hans Gruenfeld, president of the International federation of industrial electricity consumers (IFIEC) called on nuclear opponents to "stop dreaming". Wind, biomass, and other renewable energy sources cannot fully cover Europe's future energy needs, he insisted. "There is no realistic option without the nuclear energy", Gruenfeld said.  

He added that industrial consumers stood ready to share part of the investment burden by forging partnerships with energy producers in the form of long-term supply contracts.

Chistopher Hurst, Director of the European Investment Bank (EIB), said he considered it an "irrefutable fact" that the world will need new nuclear reactors. In Europe, most of them are reaching the end of their life-cycle, he said, and there are only few new projects on the table. 

He said the EIB was of the same opinion on nuclear as the Commission and the Council in that it sees a place for it in the future, but it is up to the member states to decide. If there is a demand for the EIB to support to a nuclear project in the future, it will evaluate it as any other project - based on technological, economic and environmental criteria. 

Tomáš Hüner, Czech Deputy Minister of Industry, pointed out that no electricity or heat generation technology is without environmental side-effects. The development of renewables is important, he added, but even if the EU was to reach the 20% target, it will still have to find ways to produce the remaining 80%. There, he said nuclear energy was "irreplaceable". 

He also underlined that the EU would fail to succeed in global competition unless its member states raise the common European interest above the national – saying this also holds true for issues as controversial as spent fuel storage or R&D.

Responding to an earlier speaker, MEP Rebecca Harms (Greens/EFA) said "it is the nuclear advocates who should stop dreaming". Citing a report by the Greens political group in the European Parliament, she said that there is not sufficient potential for the construction of new nuclear power plants in Europe as production capacities for some key technological components are lacking and there is not enough qualified labour. 

Therefore, she said the nuclear industry now focuses much more on extending the life-cycle of existing plants rather than on building new ones. However, she said that brings safety problems, as recent incidents in European power plants show.

Harms also touched on two other problematic points: most countries have "catastrophically low funds" for waste disposal, she said, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a result of "our underestimation of the potential misuse of civil nuclear technologies".

Ronald Schenkel, director general at the Commission's Joint Research Centre, was much more optimistic. He said R&D could help stop proliferation by improving detection capacities.

Patricia Lorenz from Friends of the Earth, an environmental NGO, dismissed such optimism, saying detection does not mean improved ability to stop nuclear activities, as the Iran example shows. Her strongest criticism was aimed at the unwillingness of the nuclear industry to discuss and to accept a different opinion on this matter. 

Jean-Pierre Le Roux From the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA), a French state-funded nuclear research organisation, said the problem of nuclear waste could be solved from a technological point of view. Radioactivity of stored spent fuel has declined over the years and now comes back to natural levels much faster than used to be case, said Le Roux (in approx. 300 years). Moreover, the overall mass of waste had decreased thanks to reprocessing and recycling, he added.

Gerd Jäger from RWE, a German power utility, agreed, saying waste was not a technical problem but a political one. Higher public acceptance could be also achieved by publicising the success stories, he said. 

Vince Novak, director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), said he had seen tremendous improvements in the safety of nuclear installations. Still, he said caution is needed about safety, as in the public's eyes, the slighest incident can damage all the work done.

Eduardo Gonzales Gomez, President of Foratom, the association for the European nuclear energy industry, said that, in order to maintain its share of nuclear, Europe must face three challenges:

• Improving technological capacity – Europe is the world leader, but further development is necessary;
• improving knowledge and scientific capacity – but this problem is not unique to the nuclear industry, as there is a general need for more technical education, and;
• improving safety and the long-term management of waste, which he said is more political than technical.

Michael Weightman, UK Nuclear Chief Inspector, said transparency and openness were the the best ways to improve the image of the nuclear indsutry. Today the public is sceptical, Weightman said, and does not trust any statement just because it comes from an official or an expert. Any communciation policy must therefore take that into account, he stressed. 

Weightman then pointed to British regulators who have started using innovative communication tools such as the internet to target the wider public or organising seminars for specific target groups.

Janos Toth, Chairman of the energy and transport section at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), underlined the need for honesty. The general public, he insisted, has a right be informed about all pros and cons of nuclear power.

The President of the Slovak Nuclear Forum, Tibor Mikuš, concluded by stating his conviction that nuclear energy is probably a good solution for most EU countries. However, he said the common European energy policy can succeed if it stands on the pillars of national energy policies that are adjusted to actual needs.