Nuclear firms applauded

Thursday, 14 February 2008

Nuclear generator Endesa is the world's most sustainable electricity company, according to a report. The top 15% of companies in the electricity sector included 14 with interests in nuclear power plants.

 

Almaraz

PricewaterhouseCoopers and the SAM Group chose Endesa as the most sustainable electricity company in their Sustainability Yearbook, based on the company's economic, environmental and social responsibility. Endesa scored 78%, compared to an average for the sector of 60%.

 

Endesa owns 36% of Spain's two Almaraz reactors, 100% of Ascó 1, 85% of Ascó 2, and 78% of Vandellós 2, giving it over 3450 MWe of nuclear power capacity.

 

Two other Spanish companies joined Endesa on the shortlist, which represented the most sustainable 15% of companies in the sector worldwide. These were Iberdrola and Union Fenosa, which between them have stakes in Almaraz, Ascó, Trillo and Vandellós, while Iberdrola is the sole owner of the Cofrentes nuclear power plant.

 

SAM described the Sustainability Yearbook as a comprehensive reference publication for sustainability trends such as climate change, new energy technologies, resource shortages and 'human capital management'. It highlights the top companies in 58 separate sectors of industry.

 

Other nuclear companies selected for their sustainable practises were: the USA's Constellation, Entergy, Exelon, Progress Energy and Xcel Energy; Italy's Enel; and Fortum of Finland. Only two electricity firms highlighted by Sustainability Yearbook did not have nuclear power plants.

 

Exelon CEO John Rowe celebrated inclusion, saying: "We have long believed that financial performance and environmental perfomance go hand in hand." He added that one of the company's initiatives that helped its sustainability rating was a voluntary goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8% from 2001 levels by the end of 2008.

 

Rowe went further in a recent speech to the Brookings Institution: "Our goal is to reduce, displace or offset the equivalent of our entire carbon footprint by 2020." Entergy's plan "includes increased efficiency, nuclear uprates, new nuclear plants, new gas-fired combined cycle facilities and renewable resources like wind," said Rowe.