The European Energy Policy after Fukushima

It is an occult feeling to discuss nuclear energy in the middle of an on-going meltdown in Japan. Statistically there is a risk for a severe nuclear accident every 20-25 years. The greens have always warned of the dangers of nuclear technology but as more than one speaker pointed out: “It has never hurt more to have been right about something.”

During the session it became once again clear that the ‘bridge-technology’ CO2-neutral nuclear must be of the table. Fukushima may geographically be far away, nevertheless the serious incident in Hungary 2003 (Level three on the INES scale http://www-ns.iaea.org/tech-areas/emergency/ines.asp ) shows that Europe is not a safe haven.  The aftermath of the nuclear business is always the same: With the justification “secrets of business” information on accidents are kept from the public.

There is only a small window of opportunity for a renaissance of nuclear. In ten years’ time renewables will have a bigger share in the EU than nuclear.  The industry knows that and consequently, as Bas Eickhout pointed out, we see a very aggressive lobbying in Brussels.

It is the core task of the greens to fight against this tendency. Europa as a whole could face out nuclear while going for renewables at the same time by 2050. We now have the alternatives, which was very different at the time of Chernobyl.

If we take the concrete Example of Hungary, a new energy strategy will be drafted at the end of the year. The green goal is to take nuclear out of the Hungarian Energy-mix.  The regulatory system at the moments out-dated. The money spend on energy policy must be used for more efficient projects and not in a way that helps to keep the status quo.