Page 20 - bne IntelliNews 26th May

Opinion
May 26, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
CONFERENCE CALL: The only way is nukes
Tim Gosling in Prague
Building additional nuclear capacity is the only route to decarbonise Central Europe’s power sec- tor, panelists at the New Nuclear Watch Europe (NNWE) meeting held in Prague on May 22 insisted.
The lobby group for the nuclear industry gathered government and EU officials to impress on the audience that Central Europe does not have the natural resources to fully switch to renewables. Meanwhile, gas presents environmental and geo- political risks, they added confidently.
However, despite worries expressed early in proceedings that they may be “preaching to the converted”, the discussion was anything but one sided. The panel was a little flustered as a bevvy of NGO representatives challenged their claims when the floor was opened to questions.
Even those delegates that announced themselves pro-nuclear stuck the boot in. One Slovene inter- locutor pointed out that the last new nuclear unit put into operation in Europe was in 2002. “If you say nuclear is needed,” he barked to the panel, “do something about it!”
The second unit at the Temelin nuclear plant in the Czech Republic finished in 2003 was the last addition to the European nuclear fleet. Lobbying to kickstart the construction of the first of four new units under the country’s long-term energy strat- egy is bubbling away. However, with the costs of nuclear new build having expanded hugely in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, neither the Czech government nor state-controlled utility CEZ wants to stump up the CZK300bn (€11bn) or so that the programme will cost.
The last new nuclear unit put into operation in Europe was in 2002.
Tim Yeo, the former UK MP and chairman of NNWE – which advocates nuclear as the clean technology of the future – clearly feels this safety bug has gone too far. Nuclear can compete eco- nomically if costs are cut, he announced at the outset. “Permitting and location costs must be brought down,” he said.
At the same time, referring to Hungary’s contro- versial Paks 2 project, he asserted that deals from the east are key. “At the levels offered by Russia, South Korea and China, construction and financ- ing costs make nuclear power production very competitive,” he added.
Critics point out that Hungary already relies on Russia for 60% of its energy, and claim the deal will only hand Moscow more leverage over the Nato country. The financial risks of the €12.5bn project are also huge, given the weakness of power markets and EU stipulations that Paks 2 production must be sold on the open market.
Russia and China both clearly hope the Czech Republic will follow the Hungarian model to hand out contracts without a tender. The fiscal and geo- political risks don’t appear to worry Czech Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Lenka Kovacovska, however. A way must be found to build new nu- clear if Central Europe is to meet decarbonisation goals, she stated bluntly.
Sea and sun
“The Czech Republic has no coast for offshore wind, not enough sun for solar. Energy efficiency will help us but not save us regarding decarboni- sation,” she said. “We have absolutely no other