Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:34pm GMT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Building more nuclear power plants to reduce global warming emissions is not the way to fight global climate change, Finland's prime minister said on Monday.
Many energy experts say one key to cutting back carbon dioxide emissions that heat the Earth's atmosphere would be to rely more on nuclear power to generate electricity instead of coal-fired plants
Nuclear power is back on the agenda in Britain. If more nuclear stations are ordered, which is far from certain, it will mark a fresh start for an industry in which Britain once hoped to lead the world, but which was crippled by a series of misjudgments on the part of politicians, managers and investors.
There is no shortage of documentaries reminding us that peak oil has been reached - and passed. Demand is rising and so, too, inevitably, are prices. What happens when money alone isn't enough to secure a barrel of the action? Is nuclear energy the short-term solution?
Proponents say it's clean and safe. Governments, prone to hard pragmatism, are beginning to bend towards a technology that may provide breathing space inasmuch as there is negligible carbon emissions from nuclear energy production - just a lot of unpleasant material that can last for a bloody long time.
By GEORGE JAHN, The Associated Press
VIENNA, Austria -- Global warming and rocketing oil prices are making nuclear power fashionable, drawing a once demonized industry out of the shadows of the Chernobyl disaster as a potential shining knight of clean energy.
Mark Henderson, Science Editor
Energy companies building the next generation of nuclear power stations will choose between four models, the manufacturers of which have already applied to have their designs approved for use in Britain.
The four reactor types were all accepted into a “prelicensing process” in July. This will assess their safety and efficiency before any orders are placed or sites chosen.
Faced with persistent cabinet and industry lobbying and professors bearing heavy statistics, MPs have simply caved in
Polly Toynbee, Friday January 11, 2008 The Guardian
Marking the new political year, Gordon Brown promised to take "the difficult long-term decisions, even if at times it may be easier to do simpler or less difficult things". Going nuclear is a big decision and a difficult one, but that doesn't necessarily make it the right one.
By Peggy Hollinger in Paris
When Anne Lauvergeon took over France's nuclear group Cogema in 1999, one of her first acts was to install cameras in the fuel and waste treatment chambers of La Hague, France's highly sensitive reprocessing site on the north coast.
By James Kanter
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
PARIS: The British government is expected to introduce plans this week for a series of new nuclear reactors - a move that energy experts say could light a beacon for the beleaguered nuclear industry in other parts of Europe, where opposition to the technology remains strong.
Thu Jan 3, 2008 7:34pm EST
By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) - The British government's public consultation last year on the need for new nuclear power plants to tackle climate change and bridge the looming energy gap was flawed and misleading, a group of academics said on Friday.
By Andrew Porter
The next generation of nuclear power stations is set to be given the go-ahead by the Government next week despite fierce opposition from environmentalists and MPs.
Following months of delays over a legal challenge, John Hutton, the Business Secretary, is expected to tell MPs that a new era of nuclear power can begin.
