RWE npower, one of the big six power suppliers, has warned ministers not to seal a long-term subsidy deal with the nuclear industry behind the backs of consumers and saddle them with "unnecessarily high bills" for the next 40 years.
The warning from Paul Massara, RWE UK's new chief executive, comes as the Guardian can reveal that up to 15 private sector executives with links to the atomic sector have been seconded to government departments or other public sector roles.
The German opposition has reacted angrily over revelations that the government, as part of its decision to extend the life of nuclear power in Germany to the mid 2030s, struck a deal with the nuclear industry to shield it from unfavorable future political decisions.
The revival of atomic energy in Europe and a new nuclear-friendly mood in both the EU Commission and the EU Parliament has given the industry's powerful lobby in Brussels a
shot in the arm.
An international confab on nuclear energy has opened in Berlin to promote exchange of information on technical and legal aspects of the issue.
Some 200 participants of the two-day conference will focus on nuclear waste disposal, security and relevant issues of nuclear facilities.
Germany's powerful nuclear lobby, Deutsches Atomforum, which enjoys close ties with co-ruling Christian Democratic Party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, hosted the meeting, IRNA reported.
THE argument that nuclear should be part of any low- carbon solution to the UK's power requirements has been put forcefully by Westminster and, unsurprisingly, by the nuclear lobby. The counter argument – that it is, at best, a diversion from renewable energy – has been put equally forcefully by the likes of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
Green campaigners have expressed concern that the Government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is using the same lobbying consultancy as a firm that often bids for major nuclear decommissioning contracts.
The NDA is charged with cleaning up the UK's nuclear waste - and in particular with decommissioning the Sellafield site. It has employed Bell Pottinger Public Affairs (BPPA) since 2005.
Electricity ratepayers' dollars in Tennessee as well as federal tax money are increasingly going to a company owned largely by the French government: the nuclear power conglomerate AREVA.
The company holds U.S. Department of Energy contracts for nuclear-related projects at major facilities such as Hanford, Wash., and Yucca Mountain, Nev., and others, including in Erwin, Tenn., and Aiken, S.C.
WASHINGTON - The nuclear energy industry's main trade group spent $320,000 in the first quarter to lobby the federal government, according to a recent disclosure form.
ITALY, which last week decided to embrace nuclear power two decades after a public referendum banned nuclear power and deactivated all its reactors, could be just the first of several European countries to reverse its stance on nuclear power, a leading industry group has said.
Ian Hore-Lacey, spokesman for the London-based World Nuclear Association, said: "Italy has had the most dramatic, the most public turnaround, but the sentiments against nuclear are reversing very quickly all across Europe."
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A European Parliament committee on Tuesday (1 April) called for a mandatory register of the estimated 15-20,000 lobbyists in Brussels that wander the halls of the European institutions aiming to influence legislation.
In a significant victory for campaigners for transparency in public institutions, a report approved by the parliament's constitutional affairs committee recommends that 'interest representatives' – commonly known as lobbyists – be forced to be listed in a joint register covering the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council – where member states are represented.
