Kernenergie

De kernenergie lobby, ook in Nederland, krijgt het moeilijk. De Independent bericht: 'Plan for new nuclear programme approaches meltdown after report. Tony Blair's backing for nuclear power suffered a blow yesterday when the Government's own advisory body on sustainable development came down firmly against the building of a new generation of reactors. Despite the Prime Minister's well-known support for the nuclear industry, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) concluded that a new nuclear programme was not the answer to the twin challenges of climate change and security of supply. In a hard-hitting report, the 15-strong Commission identified five "major disadvantages" to nuclear power:
* The lack of a long-term strategy for dealing with highly toxic nuclear waste
* Uncertainty over the cost of new nuclear stations and the risk that taxpayers would be left to pick up the tab;
* The danger that going down the nuclear route would lock the UK into a centralised system for distributing energy for the next 50 years;
* The risk a new nuclear programme would undermine efforts to improve energy efficiency;
* The threat of terrorist attacks and radiation exposure if other countries with lower safety standards also opt for nuclear.
Nuclear power generates 20 per cent of the UK's electricity but, by 2020, that will have shrunk to 7 per cent and, by 2035, the last of the current generation of stations will have closed, potentially leaving the UK highly dependent on imported gas. But instead of sanctioning a new nuclear programme, the SDC urged Mr Blair to back a further expansion of renewable power, fresh measures to promote energy efficiency and the development of new technologies such as "carbon capture" to tackle the environmental threat posed by fossil-fuelled stations.' Lees verder: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article349711.ece Morgen interview ik professor James Lovelock, de man die wereldberoemd werd door zijn Gaia theorie, de aarde als levend mechanisme dat ervoor zorgt dat het leven op onze planeet mogelijk is. Volgens Lovelock staat de mensheid op het punt zichzelf en de aarde te vernietigen door de gigantische milieuverwoesting en door vooral de uitstoot van broeikasgassen die de klimaatverandering op gang heeft gebracht. Lovelock is een fervent voorstander van kernenergie om de broeikasgassen terug te dringen. Ik ben benieuwd wat zijn reactie is op dit rapport. Ik laat het u weten. Zie ook: http://stanvanhoucke.blogspot.com/2006/01/klimaatverandering-11.html