Energy News  
CIVIL NUCLEAR
Sarkozy lobbies for nuclear power

Israel to seek French help for nuclear power plant: ministry
Jerusalem (AFP) March 8, 2010 - Israel will officially announce on Tuesday that it is seeking French help to construct a nuclear power plant, the infrastructure ministry spokesman said on Monday. Chen Lulu said minister Uzi Landau would tell an international conference on civilian nuclear energy in Paris that he sees such a plant as a joint project between Israel and Jordan, with France supervising and providing technology. "He mentioned this three months ago to French Ecology Minister (Jean-Louis) Borloo, who showed great interest and said he would discuss it with President (Nicolas) Sarkozy," Lulu said in a statement. Israel is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has said it will not sign up for a Middle East nuclear-free zone being promoted by the United States.

The Jewish state is widely reported to have nuclear weapons but refuses to confirm or deny such reports, pursuing what it calls a policy of "nuclear ambiguity." With the United States, Israel has been at the forefront of calls for tough sanctions to halt Iran's controversial nuclear programme which it says is a cover for building nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its atomic ambitions are for peaceful civilian purposes. Israel, which has a severe power shortage, is an arid country with no option of hydroelectric generation and no oil, and the government faces local opposition to building more coal-fired electricity plants. "We have to check options which are safe and cause the least environmental damage," an infrastructure ministry statement quoted Landau as saying before departing for Paris. "Nuclear technology has many positive uses which have the ability to serve the cause of peace and cooperation," he said.
by Staff Writers
Paris (UPI) Mar 8, 2009
French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday urged the world to turn to nuclear power as his country's industry aims to supply the global boom for the energy source.

Welcoming the attendees of an international energy conference in Paris, 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.

Sarkozy denounced the perception that poor countries didn't have the right to nuclear because they can't be trusted to keep it safe.

"That is closing the door to progress and a better life to those who have nothing," he said.

The remarks come as nuclear power is experiencing a worldwide revival.

U.S. President Barack Obama last month handed loan guarantees to two new reactor projects launched in Georgia; the president has said the technology is key to the American energy strategy, which had not 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 country's 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.

Recently, the French companies lost a $20 billion deal to supply four reactors to United Arab Emirates. The contract went to South Korea's Kopeck instead -- its reactor is cheaper.

In a bid to reverse that trend, Sarkozy called for security instead of pricing to dominate the agenda, urging the International Atomic Energy Agency to rate the world's reactors on offer according to their safety record.

He also announced he would pool the country's nuclear expertise in a new body called the International Institute of Nuclear Energy. It would make sure France will keep its nuclear power expertise by training young scientists and engineers.

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 re-consider that plan. Berlin is about to commission studies on the best future energy mix and will announce its final decision on nuclear later this year.

While German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen has in the past lobbied for getting rid of nuclear power, his boss, Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday made clear that this was not 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 Monday in remarks to the foreign media in Berlin.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


CIVIL NUCLEAR
France urges world to turn to nuclear power
Paris (AFP) March 8, 2010
France urged international financial bodies to finance a new era of global nuclear power on Monday and pitched its own reactor technology as the model to follow. Welcoming delegates from 60 energy-hungry nations to a conference in Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy said civil nuclear power had been unfairly passed over for World Bank development loans. He called on world and regional finan ... read more







The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement