Nuclear EU
backtracking from nuclear shutdown, the eu has declared its intention of building new nuclear power plants in the coming 50 years. The excuse is climate change. The declaration came soon after the eu executive revised the proposals for nuclear safety and waste management legislation on September 8, 2004. Environmentalists allege the revision weakened the proposals, some of which imposed deadlines for dealing with high-level radioactive wastes and decommissioning of plants.
"The production of nuclear energy has been increasing. This is the reality and, with the challenge of climate change, the eu cannot avoid nuclear energy for the foreseeable future,' reasoned eu energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio. She said the eu would need to build new nuclear power plants in future. Palacio also conceded that the revised legislation did not lay strict deadlines for storage schemes for radioactive wastes. The European Commission (ec) is yet to complete its inquiry into the funding of decommissioning and waste management. But the energy commissioner stressed that the new proposals contained unified standards of nuclear safety for all the 25 eu members. "These (proposals) are key instruments for ensuring greater transparency, rationalising the debate and dispelling public fears regarding this source of energy,' she claimed. The proposals were first made in January 2003.
The proposal of "peer reviews'