Blogpost by jmckeati
- September 7, 2010 at 14:05 PM So, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel announced at the
weekend that her government will seek extension
to the country’s nuclear reactors’ lifetimes
of between 8 and 14 years.
Germany’s reactors are
the nuclear old men of Europe, more than
ready for retirement. All nuclear reactors
are dangerous and the older they are the
more dangerous they become. Frau Merkel
is making a grave mistake by seeking to
extend the operating life of Germany´s
nuclear reactors.
It’s contrary to the
will of the majority of German people and
is economic and ecological madness. Just
how throwing a lifeline to this 60 year-old,
tried and failed technology can be called
a ‘revolution’ is anyone’s guess.
Since Germany decided
in 2001 to steadily phase out its nuclear
reactors, it has become a world leader in
clean modern renewable energy supply. So
why take a step backwards? The decision
to stick with old risky reactors would wipe
out Germany’s leading position in green
energy which has already created a quarter
of a million new jobs.
It’s also a blow to
the wide political and public consensus
negotiated ten years ago. Numerous studies
show that Germany can reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and provide secure affordable
energy supplies without nuclear reactors.
In fact, because of their inflexibility,
obsolete reactors have already become a
major roadblock to further renewable energy
growth. Germany’s sustainable and renewable
future is now under threat. The right step
forward would be to speed up the nuclear
phase out.
Nearly two thirds of
German citizens oppose nuclear power, and
150,000 people participated in the recent
big demonstration against it. It remains
to be seen whether the government has the
power or the mandate to force through its
wishes.
There are already several
court cases running that challenge the plan
for extended operation of old, unsafe nuclear
reactors. If the government agrees to the
proposal and the parliament approves it,
Greenpeace is ready to take this challenge
all the way to the Constitutional Court.
+ More
What happened at Russia’s
Kursk nuclear power plant?
Earlier this week Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in a
speech that ‘the only "real and powerful
alternative" to oil and gas is nuclear
energy. He rejected other approaches as
"claptrap."’
We wonder if he’d have
used those words if things had gone differently
at Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant earlier
this year. Probably not, as he might have
been touring hospitals visiting victims
of radiation exposure instead. On July 22,
it appears that one of the reactors at the
plant may have come close a Chernobyl-style
disaster.
We say ‘appears’ and
‘may’ because official details from the
authorities are few and sketchy. The story
that is slowly leaking out however, via
Bellona, is one of a highly dangerous mix
of incompetence, arrogance, cover-up and
propaganda.
The reactor is a RBMK-1000,
the same design to the one that caused the
Chernobyl disaster in 1986. There is evidence
to suggest that the changes made to the
Kursk reactor to solve the problem that
caused the Chernobyl explosion may have
introduced a new fault into the reactor’s
design that can lead to equally serious
accidents.
It you want a case study
into how not to manage public concerns in
a time when suspicion of nuclear power is
at its height then Kursk is it. Beyond a
few bland online statements from the plant’s
operator Rosenergoatom there are few official
details as to what really happened July
22. What we’re left with is unanswered questions
and informed speculation. Is that any way
to run a nuclear industry?
You can see why the
Russian authorities might want to cover-up
any accident and leak (Russian Prosecutor
General Yury Chaika has so far not responded
to Greenpeace’s questions about any possible
leak of radiation from Kursk). Russia sees
itself as one of the dominant players in
the global nuclear industry. From uranium
to nuclear fuel to reactor design, building
and operation, Russia wants a big slice
of the nuclear ‘renaissance ’. Talk of nuclear
accidents at reactors with incompetent management
and under-trained staff doesn’t look good
to potential investors.
When the Russian authorities
(and Russia isn’t alone in this) are operating
nuclear reactors without honesty and transparency,
while it is dumping nuclear waste in the
open air, and embracing a technology that
has solved none of its dangerous problems
in its 60-year history, it is Prime Minister
Putin that is talking ‘claptrap’.
