MORE EUROPEANS LOOK AGAIN AT NUCLEAR

A new poll from Eurobarometer, the European Commission’s polling service, finds a higher level of acceptance of nuclear energy than was found the last time such a poll was made.

Everywhere in the world, global climate change is forcing people to reconsider nuclear energy.

It is true nuclear energy offers greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions-free energy but it is NOT true that nuclear waste is the only problem remaining to be solved. Nuclear energy brings with it a handful of serious problems, beginning with the fact there is no safe way to store radioactive waste, running through problems with potential weapons proliferation and terrorist targeting, and ending with the out-of-proportion costs to build and maintain nuclear facilities governments must subsidize.

The new poll of EU nations shows a rising percentage of people there, though still not a majority, favor nuclear energy to some extent.

This suggests the nuclear energy industry is making some headway with their “nuclear renaissance” hype. Fortunately, there are wise and courageous writers like Anne B. Butterfield, NewEnergyNews’ new contributor (see left column), to raise questions about the hype. In her first NewEnergyNews column, Butterfield penetratingly questions the many fallacious assumptions about nuclear energy’s value.

Validating Anne’s arguments is a report this week from the Wall Street Journal about the expense and difficulties Japan is having reopening its earthquake-compromised Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. (See In Japan, Resistance Rises to Nuclear-Power Plans and AFTER JAPAN NUKE PANIC, GERMAN NUKE COVER-UP, CONSIDER WIND)

France, perhaps the world’s greatest nuclear energy proponent, will soon embark on the construction of a next-generation Pressurized Water Reactor. It is the type of nuclear plant that has caused such huge cost and time overruns in Finland.

It will be interesting to see if France, which advocates nuclear waste vitrification (the safest - though not safe or proven - method of storage used to date) can bring its plant in on time and on budget. The facts will start coming in by 2012 or 2013 if things go according to schedule - which they usually do NOT in nuke plant construction.

By 2012-13, the wind industry will have probably doubled its present output, solar energy will be nearly cost competitive with the cheapest power generation and ocean energy will likely be proven and in service.

From the Eurobarometer poll. (click to enlarge)

Europeans’ reservations about nuclear energy on the decline: survey
July 3, 2008 (AFP via Yahoo News)

WHO
Europeans; Eurobarometer

WHAT
Attitudes towards radioactive waste, a new poll from Eurobarometer, the European Commission's polling service, found that though less than half of Europeans polled favor nuclear energy development, 7% more do than did 3 years ago.

From the Eurobarometer poll. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- 2005: 37% of Europeans were either "totally in favour" or "fairly in favour" of nuclear energy
- 2008: 44%

WHERE
- Italy: Went from 30% to 43% favoring.
- Numbers also increased significantly in Poland, Ireland and Greece.
- France: Went from 52% to 52% (no change). (France is one of the biggest users of nuclear energy among the European nations polled.)
- Most opposition: Austria, Greece and Cyprus.

WHY
- 45% of those polled were totally opposed to nuclear energy.
- The largest opposing groups are women and people with lower levels of education.
- 10 of the 27 EU countries have a majority favoring nuclear energy.
- The poll found that the biggest reason for new attitudes about nuclear energy was global climate change.
Most Europeans appreciate the benefits of nuclear energy.
- The key to nuclear energy opposition was nuclear waste. 4 in 10 opponents would change their position if there were a permanent and safe solution for storage.
- Europeans fear radioactive waste’s harm to health and to the environment.
- Europeans believe there ought to be a solution for nuclear waste.

From the Eurobarometer poll. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- From the report’s Conclusion: “Support for nuclear energy has increased considerably in the European Union since 2005 and the share of supporters is now nearly identical (44%) to the share of opponents (45%). Respondents in countries that have operational nuclear power plants are considerably more likely to support nuclear energy than citizens in other
countries.”
- From the report’s Conclusion: “An increased level of knowledge about radioactive waste management among citizens would most probably ensure the continuation of this trend in an upward direction over the next few years. The European Union, which is expected to play an active role in the field of radioactive waste management, could contribute to this process by providing citizens with more information about this topic.”