France and Kuwait signed an agreement to develop nuclear energy in the Gulf country, a comeback for the French nuclear industry after it lost a key reactor deal in the United Arab Emirates.
After talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Kuwait's Prime Minister Sheik Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmad al-Sabah and French officials signed an agreement to develop a civil nuclear energy project Friday in Paris.
The deal will "permit the development of cooperation between France and Kuwait in several areas of nuclear energy," the French government said in a statement.
This is a major comeback for the French industry in the region, which lost a $20 billion deal to supply four reactors to United Arab Emirates to a South Korean firm.
At an international energy conference in Paris last month, Sarkozy said the world needed nuclear power to fight climate change. He added the technology should become accessible also to developing countries, urging international finance institutions such as the World Bank not to ignore nuclear when handing out development loans.
Growth isn't only happening in the Gulf region — nuclear is experiencing a worldwide revival.
U.S. President Barack Obama this year handed loan guarantees to two new reactor projects launched in Georgia; the president said the technology is key to the American energy strategy, which hadn't seen new reactors since the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island.
India and China want the technology to fuel their economic growth and, across Europe, nations including Britain and several in Central and Eastern Europe are planning new reactors to increase energy security and reduce carbon dioxide emissions in their power mix.
The world's second largest nuclear nation behind the United States, France has a vested interest in fueling this revival.
The French industry is world-leading; it includes giants Reva and EDF, the designers of the European Pressurized Reactor. The third-generation PER is considered one of the most advanced in the world. However, the only two models under construction in Finland and France have been plagued by costly construction delays.
Meanwhile, another big nuclear nation — neighboring Germany — is considering extending the lifetime of its nuclear power plants beyond 2020.
Under current law, the 17 remaining German reactors are due to be shut down by the end of that year but the ranking coalition has promised to reconsider that plan. Berlin is about to commission studies on the best future energy mix and will announce its final decision on nuclear this falls.
While German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen has in the past lobbied for getting rid of nuclear power, his boss, Chancellor Angela Merkel has made clear that this wasn't an option anytime soon.
Taking into account environmental, economic and sustainability aspects, it's obvious that Germany's nuclear power plants, "will have to run longer than until 2020," Merkel said last month in Berlin.
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