When it
comes to nuclear energy, Europe's policy is anything but unified. Individual
countries are charting their own course - particularly Britain, where
government plans show a very nuclear future.
In Brussels
last week (22.02.13), an energy council met to discuss land-use changes for
biofuels. The intent was to complete an internal EU energy market by 2014. The
EU itself has committed to an energy roadmap that aims to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions to 80-95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Yet
countries within the EU still have wildly varying energy policies, particularly
when it comes to nuclear energy.
Germany is phasing
out nuclear energy entirely. Thirteen other EU countries, however, continue to
operate nuclear reactors. Following the Fukushima disaster, Spain and
Switzerland banned the construction of any new reactors, while France not only
runs a number of reactors in its own country, but operates eight out of nine
reactors in the UK through Electricité de France (EDF).
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After Fukushima, Germany and Japan decided to switch off nuclear power |
The UK
currently has 16 operational nuclear reactors at nine sites. Other reactors,
some of which have been around since the fifties, are having their lives
extended. Britain already sells nuclear energy to its neighbors, but clearly
hopes to produce more nuclear energy on UK soil.
"The
government wants to see new nuclear [power stations] come forward in the UK and
has designated eight sites as potentially suitable," said a spokesman for
the British Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC). ´
Hidden
costs
Pete Roche
works at "Spinwatch", an organization that aims to highlight the true
meaning behind government PR, or "spin." Roche's area of expertise is
"Nuclear Spin."
The UK
government, he believes, "thinks they need [nuclear power] because there
are an awful lot of coal fired stations due to close over the next few years,
and the gas from the North Sea is also reducing."
He also
feels that consumers are not being told the true cost of nuclear energy.
"At the beginning of all this we were told that nuclear is the cheapest
for providing low-carbon electricity," he told DW. "But if we do get
to the price they seem to be talking about guaranteeing, which is 100 pounds
per megawatt hour for the next 40 years, then it does not look so cheap."
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Sellafield on the Cumbrian coast of Great Britain is the UK's oldest reactor, now being decommissioned |
By comparison, offshore wind costs 130 British pounds per megawatt, a figure that might drop to 100 by 2030.
Roche told
DW he sees Germany as "showing us the way."
"The
first difference that I like to highlight between Germany and the UK is that
Germany expects to reduce energy consumption by about 20 percent, I think. And
the UK is expecting our energy consumption to increase. If we went for the kinds
of reduction in consumption that Germany is going for, it would be much easier
to implement a renewable energy strategy."
RWE
Energy
policy decisions made in Germany have, in fact, had an effect on energy
decision-making in the UK, but mostly from the standpoint of private energy
companies. The German publically-traded energy company, RWE, which operates in
the UK as RWE npower, has had to adapt to changing economic and political
circumstances.
"The
effect of the accelerated nuclear phaseout in Germany has led to RWE adopting a
number of measures, including divestments, a capital increase, efficiency
enhancements and a leaner capital expenditure budget," read an RWE
statement sent to DW.
As the
owner of the UK's largest offshore wind farm, RWE told DW that it would be
impossible to generate all energy needs through renewable energies alone. But
in a statement made last March, former CEO Volker Beckers continued to view
nuclear energy as an integral part of the "mix" of energy sources
needed to meet the UK's needs.
"We
continue to believe that nuclear power has an important role to play in the
UK's future energy mix," the CEO said.
RWE will be
in competition with the French EDF for contracts to build and operate UK
reactors. But beyond nuclear energy, RWE is also committed to low-carbon energy
technologies in the UK.
Over the
last three years RWE has invested £1.6 billion (1.86 billion euros) into new,
highly-efficient gas-fired power stations in Britain. Over that same period it
has invested over £1.2 billion into renewable energies.
Powerful lobbies
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Some experts say that relying on renewables is causing German industries to seek more reliable sources |
Powerful lobbies
But at the
UK policy level, a "green future" for Britain is not discussed in the
current energy bill.
Roche says
that nuclear energy still has cross-party support in the UK, citing only about
"40 MPs who would oppose it".
Roche
believes the government developed an energy policy that does not reflect
today's realities - one developed in 2003, when nuclear energy appeared to be
cheap and offshore wind was expensive and was quite scarce.
"As
time has gone on it's become clearer and clearer that [nuclear] is not cheap at
all. The reactors are overrunning and getting more and more expensive," he
told DW. "But they somehow need to save face, and continue the policy that
they have started."
He also
believes the energy sector is "quite a powerful lobby" and that,
beyond direct lobbying of the government by nuclear energy companies, many
Labour MPs have nuclear reactor workers as their constituents.
Roche
believes his country needs to "keep highlighting the good things that are
happening in Germany."
But at the
moment the government's vision, he says, centers around "energy security,
climate change, and affordability."
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