British Minister Says Nuclear Power Part of Future Energy Supply

Text of report by Austrian newspaper Die Presse on 1 October

[Interview with UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks by Jakob Zirm; place and date not given: "British Minister: Nabucco Yes, But No Projects in Iran"]

[Zirm] Great Britain has an ambitious programme to develop nuclear energy. The Austrians, by contrast, are very sceptical when it comes to it. In this country people mostly think right away about the accident in Chernobyl. What is your first thought on the issue of nuclear power?

[Wicks] Let me explain our approach to the issue of nuclear power. For us there are two reasons to accelerate it. One is global warming due to carbon dioxide emissions. We believe this is the greatest challenge facing our planet in this century. By 2050, in Great Britain we want to lower our CO2 emissions by 60 per cent from the 1990 level. The second issue is a secure energy supply. Countries like China and India have a rapidly rising energy consumption. Global demand will soon exceed the supply, which is why all nations must assure they can put their energy supply on as many different legs as possible. And nuclear power is certainly part of that, as are renewable energy sources, of course.

[Zirm] In other words: You will build new power plants.

[Wicks] We have been using nuclear power since the Second World War and since then have also had nuclear power plants. We built the last new reactor in 1995. About a fifth of our energy comes from nuclear plants. Public opinion in Great Britain may be sceptical as well, but we must allow nuclear power to be part of the future energy supply. We are no longer in the 1950s, when the government decided when and where to build power plants. Now we create the conditions for companies to build nuclear plants. The first could be finished around 2020. And safety is one of the main criteria.

[Zirm] You said earlier that energy policy involves diversification of supply. In continental Europe, at present we get a large part of our gas from Russia. Now there is the Nabucco project, with which gas should ultimately be imported from Iran as well. Projects with Iran are strongly criticized by the United States in particular. What is your opinion on this?

[Wicks] For Europe it is important to diversify the sources of fossil energy. Nabucco opens a southern corridor and is very important. Work on these projects should also be pursued vigorously. But the situation with Iran is difficult. Naturally, it has the right to civil use of nuclear energy, but it must not obtain nuclear weapons. At present there is no cooperation from Iran on this issue. That is why the pressure on it should be maintained and at present no direct projects are taking place in Iran, like the development of gas or oil fields.

[Zirm] Back to British nuclear power: How do you intend to solve another problem, the final storage of the nuclear waste?

[Wicks] Without question there are major concerns about nuclear power. And I am not someone who takes these lightly. Radioactive waste is a very important question, but one that concerns us independent of the further expansion since we already have a quantity of nuclear waste. At present we spend about 2.5 billion euros per year on elimination of the waste. In the long term, our experts feel that “deep geological disposal” is the safest. That means it is all stored in a deep hole in the ground. We are currently working on where this should be.

[Zirm] What maximum potential do you see in nuclear power and renewable energy sources?

[Wicks] It is not smart to speculate about concrete values, but I will do it nonetheless. In my opinion a third of our energy could come from renewable energy sources in 2030 or 2040. Nuclear power could account for another 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

[Zirm] What renewable energy sources do you have in mind in particular?

[Wicks] We have no hydropower, as you have in Austria. As a result, at present only 1.9 per cent of our energy comes from renewable energy sources. For us wind power is naturally of interest. Great Britain is a rather windy place. This year we will replace Denmark as the world leader in offshore wind parks. But I consider marine power to be even more exciting, meaning the use of tides and sea currents. There are many new ideas there, but these technologies will only be ready for use on a large scale by mid- century.

[Zirm] One problem with such major projects, like tidal power plants, is that they often heavily damage the local environment. Which is better: consideration of the local environment or of the global one?

[Wicks] It is necessary to understand that if we do not get a grip on global warming then nations like Bangladesh are flooded. Then there will be mass migration. That does not mean that every wind farm and every tidal power plant makes sense, but there are also groups in the population who always say no to everything. But if you always say no, then at some point the lights go out.

Originally published by Die Presse, Vienna, in German 1 Oct 08.

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