NUCLEAR ENERGY – WORLDWIDE DECLINE
Nuclear technology was born out of the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan. The first nuclear power plant began producing electricity nearly 50 years ago. This was followed by a rush of statements that nuclear power would be peaceful and could offer cheap (“too cheap to meter”) and clean power that would change the world.
With its growth in the 1950s-1970s, people also learned about the risks of this energy source: accidents, radiation, waste and others. Industry claims of a bright future even became harder to accept in the 1980s, after the accidents of Three Mile Island (1979) and Chernobyl (1986).
After the Chernobyl disaster, a number of reactors were completed, but since the 1990s there has been virtual stagnation of the global nuclear industry. Opposition from the public and politicians led both to orders being cancelled and - to a much greater extent - utilities moving away from nuclear power towards other non-nuclear generating capacity.
However, some predict a change in the fortunes of nuclear power. Nuclear supporters are hoping that a combination of environmental and geopolitical factors will tip the balance in favor of nuclear power. Most importantly, they hope that concern about climate change will outweigh that of the environmental impact of nuclear energy. They also hope that concern over dependency and needs on energy supply in non-OECD countries will overcome fears of the instability that comes with nuclear proliferation.
Driven by political desires for smaller public sectors and the economic incentives of the private sector, the former national electricity monopolies are being broken up and privatized and electricity markets liberalized. This has resulted in increased transparency of costs and consequently less interest in the huge capital costs associated with nuclear power, when non-nuclear power plants that are cheaper and quicker to build are readily available. Without support of pro-nuclear governments and associated subsidies, nuclear power may gradually fade from the global energy system.
Currently only a few countries are seriously considering to build new nuclear power stations. Although Finland has taken the political decision in 2002 to do so it has yet to be seen who is willing to pay for the investments. South Africa is in the midst of the process towards the building of a new reactor type, the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). Citizens’ groups in the country, supported by WISE and others, are fighting this plan. Despite the Three Mile Island accident, the U.S. government is now promoting an increase in nuclear energy.
But in more places the fight is not quite over yet. In countries like Taiwan, Japan and Russia, anti-nuclear groups are continuing their work, as the nuclear industry tries to re-gain strength despite being rocked by cover-up and corruption scandals.
WISE will do whatever it can to help these groups and their struggles.
Further reading