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luke
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: by the sea
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 Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 1:28 pm Post subject: report reveals damning economic analysis of nuclear industry |
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| Quote: | New independent report reveals damning economic analysis of global nuclear industry
*Expensive, slow-to-construct and uneconomic nuclear power should be
ruled out of the options for reducing greenhouse gases
*
2nd May 2007 - In the week that the Intergovernmental Panel On
Climate Change (IPCC) will announce itīs recommendations on measures to
mitigate climate change, a new report has been published by a team of
international energy and economic experts[i] which conclusively
proves that nuclear power is neither a practical nor economically viable
solution to tackling climate change (1).
The report, "The Economics of Nuclear Power", commissioned by
Greenpeace
International, concludes that nuclear power station construction can run
up to 300% over budget and, on average, take four years
longer to build than planned. The report examines the
reasons behind the huge delays and cost over-runs which are common to
nuclear power construction projects, and concerns over safety and
reliability of new technology, concluding:
* that in country after country nuclear construction has gone
massively over budget;
* that long construction periods are symptomatic of a range of
problems including managing the construction of increasingly
complex reactor designs, and inherent within the ailing nuclear
infrastructure;
* that combined with the huge subsidies required, uncompetitively
high prices, poor reliability and serious risks of cost overruns,
nuclear power stands no chance of being economically viable in
countries that have moved to competitive power procurement;
* that significant and widespread concerns remain over the basic
safety, waste disposal and decommissioning of existing plants;
* that there are similarly significant concerns over new, untested
technology in currently- proposed nuclear power projects.
"This independent analysis explodes the myth that nuclear power is a
viable and affordable source of energy and clearly indicates that the
sums just donīt add up for nuclear power," said Greenpeace spokesperson,
Nathan Argent. "These damning conclusions expose the fact that nuclear
power is nothing more than a dangerous and expensive distraction from
the real solutions to climate change. There are much cheaper, safer,
more effective alternatives such as renewable energy sources and
increased energy efficiency, as outlined in Greenpeaceīs `Energy
Revolutionī scenarios." he continued.
These findings support the conclusions and scenarios outlined in
Greenpeace's energy blueprint the */"The Energy [R]evolution, /*that
nuclear power cannot compete with energy efficiency and renewable
technologies in effectively tackling the problems of climate change
One of the authors of the report, Steve Thomas, Professor of Energy
Policy at Greenwich University said; "The nuclear industry has always
made unfulfilled promises about its ability to meet energy demands, yet
history reveals a damning testament to its failure. Pursuing a new
programme of nuclear reactors would deny us the opportunity to make the
necessary investment in renewable technologies and energy efficiency to
meet future energy demands in an economically viable and sustainable
way".
A clear example of this is the current construction of the new
generation European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) at Okiluoto, in
Finland - the first reactor of itīs kind - which after only 18 months
construction was 18 months behind schedule and EU700 million over
budget.
The report is also supported by a recent analysis undertaken by the
World Energy Council, which showed that the times taken to complete
construction of nuclear reactors has increased from 66 months in the mid
1970s, to 116 months (nearly 10 years) for those constructed between
1995 and 2000. These massive construction delays emphasise the fact that
nuclear power will deliver too little, too late in the challenge to
tackle climate change. A recent report released by the U.S. Council on
Foreign Relations, noted that the US now has 103 operating power
reactors and that even with 20-year extensions of their planned
lifespan, all existing reactors will likely need to be decommissioned by
the middle of the century. A new reactor would have to be built in the
US every four to five months over the next 40 years just to replace the
existing fleet.
"We demand that if Governmentīs around the world are serious about
tackling climate change then they must immediately scrap plans to build
any more nuclear reactors and make these alternatives the cornerstone of
future energy policies."
The Greenpeace Energy Revolution Scenario shows that over the next four
decades, it will be more economic to phase out conventional energy
sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear (which will be subject to
increasingly volatile price fluctuations) and replace these with
renewable energy sources, and that this would cut greenhouse gas
emissions to that needed to prevent catastrophic global warming.
(1) The Economics of Nuclear Power is available at:
http://www.greenpeace.org/economics-of-nuclear |
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Mandy
Joined: 07 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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Watch "global warming by mankind" be used as an excuse to push Nuclear Power plants through all opposition.
Oops .. was that political .. I bet this is deleted .. (magic words to ensure it isn't). |
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faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | A new reactor would have to be built in the
US every four to five months over the next 40 years just to replace the
existing fleet. |
that's some going... and some price-tag! |
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