Leaders of the European Union and the bloc's major energy firms urged member states on Monday to consider making greater use of nuclear power at a conference held in Spain. "Member states can not avoid the question of nuclear energy. There needs to be a total and frank debate regarding this problem," said European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
Also in attendance were the bloc's energy commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, and it's competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, along with the heads of French power firms EDF and Areva, German energy giant E.ON, Anglo-Dutch group Shell and Italy's Enel. Kroes said she was personally "completely in favour of nuclear power" while Piebalgs appealed for the courage to discuss the issue.
"The energetic mix is key, we should not forget any technology," said Rafael Miranda, the director of Spanish power firm Endesa and the president of Euroelectric, the association representing the European power sector. Support for nuclear energy cooled in most of Europe following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the world's worst nuclear disaster, in the Ukraine.
But interest in the energy source has revived in recent years amid concerns over rising oil prices, the reliability of Russian oil and gas supplies and the effects of greenhouse gases on global warming.
Industry officials are promoting third-generation pressurised water reactors which provide greater energy, improved security and reduced waste compared to earlier versions of nuclear reactors. These new reactors are still opposed by environmentalists but are seen by many as a safe and economically viable alternative to coal and natural gas.
France's Areva is building the world's first third-generation plant in Finland and several other EU nations are set to follow its example. "We are before a renaissance of nuclear power," said Areva president Anne Lauvergeon. France derives over 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy.
"I am convinced that nuclear power is the response to European challenges," said Pierre Gadonneix, the president of EDF which operates 58 nuclear power plants in France.
But even as the US and China unveil plans for new nuclear power stations, Germany has decided to shut down all its nuclear reactors by 2020. The president of E.ON, Wulf Bernotat, said nuclear power was a "very religious issue in Germany". "Public opinion has to be changed before one can consider nuclear again as a revival in the energy mix. It should have a place," he added.
Barroso said it was up to each country to decide its mix of energy sources. "It is not the EU's role to decide if they should or should not use nuclear power," he said. But Piebalgs said in an interview published in Spanish daily El Pais on Monday that the EU should strive to ensure it keeps generating 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear sources in order to ensure member states' energy security.
"Everybody knows that some day we will have to tackle nuclear issue, when we discuss it in private settings, everybody agrees", said Gadonneix. "The issue is not technical. The issue is how to make nuclear acceptable for public opinion, it is the issue, it is clearly a political responsibility and the commission has a role," the president of EDF added.
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