EU must face nuclear energy question, says EC president

European Union (EU) member states cannot avoid the question of nuclear energy, according to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. Meanwhile, environment ministers from some European countries have re-emphasized their opposition to nuclear.

Speaking at "European Energy Challenges", a meeting of the main leaders of the European energy sector held in Madrid, Barroso called for a "total and frank debate" amongst EU member states on nuclear energy. Another speaker, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, said that she was personally "completely in favour of nuclear power", according to press reports.

Energy executives at the Madrid conference were keen to urge EU governments to address public attitudes to nuclear. "Nuclear's not the devil any more. The devil is coal," Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon told the conference. However, Wulf Bernotat, CEO of Germany's E.On, described nuclear as "almost a religious issue" in his country, which obtains nearly a third of its electricity from nuclear power plants but currently has a policy to phase out nuclear. "Public opinion has to be changed before it can enjoy any revival," Bernotat said.

Separately, environment ministers from Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia and Norway, supported by Luxembourg and Iceland, held their own meeting in Vienna "to enhance cooperation and contribute further to the discussions on the role of nuclear power in the climate change and energy efficiency debates." In a statement released by the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety after the meeting, the ministers claimed that nuclear energy has associated "inherent safety, environmental and proliferation risks". In their view, they said, nuclear power is not compatible with the concept of sustainable development and they are convinced that it "does not provide a viable option to combat climate change", and that measures such as energy saving and efficiency plus a switch to renewable energy and concerted efforts to reduce deforestation would be a more sustainable path to meet climate and energy challenges.

The European Commission recently launched a new nuclear energy research forum to bring together European researchers and industry to allow a fully integrated approach to nuclear research in Europe. It remains the sovereign right of each EU country to decide its own energy mix.

Further information

European Commission

German's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

WNN: European Commission launches nuclear research forum