inicio mail me! sindicaci;ón

EU Survey Shows 61% Of Citizens Want Less Nuclear Power

March 7, 2007 at 12:19 pm · Filed under Green Tech

Concerns about possible accidents and radioactive waste have pushed 61% of European Union citizens to say they want the bloc to use less nuclear power, an E.U. survey showed Monday.At the same time, a majority of survey respondents said they were concerned about climate change, which they attribute to the consumption of fossil fuels.

Nuclear power is a contentious issue in Europe. While E.U. officials acknowledge it is one of the cheapest sources of low carbon energy, they are unwilling to push for more reactors.

Finland and France are unabashedly pro-nuclear and building new reactors. Other countries, such as Austria and Germany, oppose nuclear energy.
Instead of turning to nuclear power, E.U. officials are pushing fuel sources such as wind turbines and solar panels. Clean coal technology is also slated to be installed in the E.U. by 2020, writes Dow Jones.

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • YahooMyWeb
  • del.icio.us
  • blinkbits
  • NewsVine
  • De.lirio.us
  • digg
  • Furl
  • LinkaGoGo
  • Reddit
  • Shadows
  • Spurl

Gerry Wolff said,

March 7, 2007 @ 8:27 pm

Regarding “EU Survey Shows 61% Of Citizens Want Less Nuclear Power” (2007-03-07), there is absolutely no need for nuclear power in Europe (and many other parts of the world) because there is a simple mature technology that can deliver huge amounts of clean energy without any of the headaches of nuclear power.

I refer to ‘concentrating solar power’ (CSP), the technique of concentrating sunlight using mirrors to create heat, and then using the heat to raise steam and drive turbines and generators, just like a conventional power station. It is possible to store solar heat in melted salts so that electricity generation may continue through the night or on cloudy days. This technology has been generating electricity successfully in California since 1985 and half a million Californians currently get their electricity from this source. CSP plants are now being planned or built in many parts of the world.

CSP works best in hot deserts and, of course, there are not many of these in Europe! But it is feasible and economic to transmit solar electricity over very long distances using highly-efficient ‘HVDC’ transmission lines. With transmission losses at about 3% per 1000 km, solar electricity may, for example, be transmitted from North Africa to London with only about 10% loss of power. A large-scale HVDC transmission grid has also been proposed by the wind energy company Airtricity as a means of optimising the use of wind power throughout Europe.

In the recent ‘TRANS-CSP’ report commissioned by the German government, it is estimated that CSP electricity, imported from North Africa and the Middle East, could become one of the cheapest sources of electricity in Europe, including the cost of transmission. That report shows in great detail how Europe can meet all its needs for electricity, make deep cuts in CO2 emissions, and phase out nuclear power at the same time.

Further information about CSP may be found at www.trec-uk.org.uk and www.trecers.net . Copies of the TRANS-CSP report may be downloaded from www.trec-uk.org.uk/reports.htm . The many problems associated with nuclear power are summarised at www.mng.org.uk/green_house/no_nukes.htm .

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment