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Blair Has Seen the Future of Nuclear Power . . .And It's in Finland

Posted on: Tuesday, 29 November 2005, 15:00 CST

By Tracey Boles, The Business, London

Nov. 27--The French have embraced it, the Italians have shunned it and the Germans will only grudgingly use it. The British, long-time consumers but wary of the side effects, are looking at it with renewed enthusiasm. What is it? Nuclear power.

Last week, it emerged that UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was laying plans for a new generation of civil nuclear power stations across Britain (which will come as no surprise to readers of The Business who learned of this from our exclusive front page story on 9 October, "Blair backs new nuclear expansion programme").

This week, Blair will set out his thinking in a review to report back within months; the first stations could be under construction within 10 years, less than two years after a government paper called nuclear power an unattractive option.

Blair has been forced to reconsider nuclear to secure the UK's energy needs, and meet the UK's obligations to reduce carbon emissions. It is a sharp U-turn for a government, one of whose leaders has family ties with the nuclear industry. As our 9 October report revealed Gordon Brown's brother, Andrew Brown, is head of media relations at Electricite de France (EdF), the French nuclear giant expected to be a main bidder for contracts in the new expansion programme.

Whichever European country you are in, the nuclear question is characterised by political wrangling and wavering public opinion set against a backdrop of uncomfortable reliance on imported energy which is often pricey or insecure. France, Italy and Germany are facing the same tough energy decisions as Britain.

As Britain contemplates another generation of nuclear reactors, it is not looking to its nearest neighbours on the continent for inspiration, however, but to Finland, host to Europe's first nuclear reactor since the Chernobyl accident of 1986 spilled radioactivity into the atmosphere -- and ripped apart public confidence in atomic energy.

--France

France is home to the world's largest park of civil nuclear power plants. In 1945, General de Gaulle launched research into civil nuclear power and the first plant, at Chinon, began operating in 1963, though these first-generation uranium graphite plants are now being decommissioned.

A second programme of 34 pressurised water (PWR) plants each generating 900MW began in 1968. After the 1973 oil price spike and shortages, nuclear construction was prioritised by the government to reduce dependence on imported oil. A second run of 20 larger 1300MW PWR generators was begun, with the first, Paluel, coming on stream in 1985. But excess capacity stalled construction of a third PWR programme after only four 1450MW plants were built. The last, Civaux, was completed in 1999.

Nuclear plants are used for France's base load generation, while demand peaks are met by hydro power, accounting for 9 percent of French generation, and by 17 oil, coal and gas stations providing 3 percent of output. Wind farms are increasing, but the main power company ElectricitÈ de France (EDF) still has only 61 windmills in France -- four more than it has in Britain.

With demand growing steadily by 2.2 percent a year, France faces a 1000MW shortfall in generating capacity in 2008. Like Britain, it is looking to nuclear to plug the energy gap.

France may be a nuclear powerhouse but is only now holding its first public inquiry into nuclear power. Turning EdF into a public company, and selling 15 percent of its shares on the Euronext Paris stock market last week, has changed the relationship between the colossus that provides 90 percent of French electricity and state planners. Instead of the government merely giving the nod to a new generation of nuclear plants, EdF has first to win approval from a specially-convened commission to build its planned pilot European Pressurised-Water Reactor (EPR), a Franco-German project to produce a so-called third generation nuclear power station.

The inquiry, which opened earlier this month in Lyon, has not been going smoothly. Citizens' groups opposed to the plan, protested vigorously after documents relating the possibility of a terrorist attack on the plant were classified as secret.

The French public appears uneasy at the idea of restarting the nuclear programme that delivers 88 percent of their electricity. A representative survey of 956 people by leading pollster Ifop at the end of September found 54 percent favoured a phased run-down of the French civil nuclear programme, though 43 percent said it should carry on. Around 88 percent of respondents said they didn't want a burial site for nuclear waste in their district. Overall, it seems, many French citizens accept nuclear power, provided it isn't too close to their home. Yet with 58 reactors on 19 sites across the country, no-one is too far from a nuclear installation. With France obliged to rely on imports for virtually all its oil and gas, successive French governments have been determined to maintain the nuclear backbone that helped make Areva, the state nuclear engineer, the world's biggest nuclear plant builder. And since the government still controls EdF, its commitment to nuclear power, which, it says, provides the cheapest base-load power in Europe, remains unchanged.

EdF aims to build a E3bn ($3.5bn, £2bn) EPR at Flamanville, on the Cherbourg peninsular, with nine more to follow by 2020. The reactor will be the first of a family designed to take over from France's existing stock of 19 plants, including 58 reactors, over the next two decades. It should produce its first electricity by 2012.

--Germany

In the year 2000, Berlin approved a law that was meant to "free" Germany of nuclear power. The lifetime for a fission power plant was set at 32 years, and once a facility had reached this age, it had to be shut down. Since then, the country has pulled the plug on two reactors, leaving it with 17 online.

But nuclear energy is still one of the most politically divisive issues in Germany, even playing a role in the recently concluded election campaign. The Christian Democrats and their partners in Bavaria, the Christian Socialists, pledged to lengthen the life of reactors.

The promise wound up in the bin after recently-concluded coalition negotiations with the Social Democrats -- partners in Berlin's new grand coalition -- who cemented the original timeframe with their administrative colleagues, the Greens. As it stands, Germany will continue its retreat from home-grown nuclear power; but while the shutdowns are on the statute books, they are not set in stone.

Roger Corradini from the Research Institute for Energy at Munich University says nuclear power may undergo a resurgence in Germany. "Until a week ago, it was definitely in decline," he says, pointing out that a new administration has taken charge in Berlin.

The Christian Democrats and Christian Socialists had wanted to halt the exodus from nuclear power; they may have conceded the issue during coalition negotiations so that they could get on with governing. But it will not be easy to prevent the shutdowns. "The law is still on the books that plants have to be closed," Corradini says, noting that the code could be modified.

Much rests on changes in Germany's energy market and whether the Christian parties receive enough support to amend the law. Ironically for environmentalists but helpfully for the pro-nuclear lobby, one of nuclear power's main competitors in Germany is also one of the dirtiest forms of electricity production: Germans still burn lignite, or brown coal, to produce about 26 percent of their electricity, and they also fire harder coals and natural gas for power.

Dirty fossil fuels supply around 60 percent of the nation's electricity, according to the German Electricity Association VDEW. Subsidies for coal mining were under fire in a number of German states, but politicians have been either unwilling or unable to cut government support for miners.

Like elsewhere in Europe, Germany is facing an energy gap. It remains a net exporter of electricity, sending some 7bn kwh across its borders last year, but imports are expected to rise due to a lack of new facilities coming on line. "We'll have to import more electricity due to the lack of power plant construction over the past few years," Corradini says.

--Italy

In Italy, the issue of nuclear power is equally politically charged and the nuclear debate is set to become a hot topic in next year's general election. Deep fissions are opening up between the rival centre right and centre left alliance.

Nuclear power generation was banned in Italy after more than 80 percent of voters rejected it in a referendum in 1987.

The centre right government led by media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi is keen to reverse the ban. But Romano Prodi, the leader of the centre-left alliance, spoke out against the reintroduction of nuclear energy generation last week. He said that the dangers and risks involved make it an issue that should be dealt with in the future.

That may have been political expediency. The centre-left alliance includes the Greens and other parties opposed to nuclear reactors. Prodi may take a different view if he gets into power; some of his other allies already do.

Whoever wins the election will have to deal with an energy problem that can only get worse. Italy is Europe's largest net importer of electricity. Much of it comes from France's nuclear power stations -- at a higher price than French consumers and businesses pay for it; its domestic electricity production is heavily dependent on oil and gas imports.

Italian businesses pay more for their electricity than almost all other European countries. Some businessmen consider rising energy costs one of the biggest factors in Italian industry's recent dramatic drop in competitiveness.

In January, Berlusconi complained that Italian companies pay 20 percent to 30 percent more for their electricity than European rivals. Italy is also struggling to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Renewable sources, such as solar and wind, will not be enough. That may make nuclear power even more attractive to the next government.

The biggest stumbling block will always be changing public opinion still largely opposed to nuclear power.

--Finland

Finland decided to build a new reactor after a two-year national debate which concluded it was the least worst way of generating electricity cheaply and reliably. The Finns are no longer content to depend on imported gas, oil and coal for their power -- or to pump out more and more greenhouse gases that run against their environmentally conscious traditions. The result is Olkiluoto 3, a nuclear plant which is being built on an island off the west coast of Finland.

The Finnish example is being keenly studied by British politicians who want to lure the public behind an industry that has been dogged by a reputation for accidents and pollution and a heavy reliance on subsidies. Several have visited the location.

Finland was among the countries worst affected by fallout from the stricken Chernobyl reactor.

Key to winning the hearts and minds of the Finns for the new build has been assurances of the safety of the Franco-German EPR reactor design. Perhaps the most important factor has been firm steps to resolve the problems of long-term storage of waste. An underground repository for low and intermediate level waste is already operating 100 metres below the surface at Olkiluoto 3. Work has begun nearby on an even deeper facility for high-level waste.

The UK will have to find equally innovative solutions to the issues of safety, waste and funding if the case for nuclear new build is to be made successfully.

Additional reporting by Ross Tieman in Toulouse, Eric Culp in Frankfurt and Robert Galbraith in Milan

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AREVA,

Source: Sunday Business

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