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Greek anti-nuclear activists want the closure of Kozloduy NPP and the ‘freezing’ of Belene

18 March 2011 / 22:03:05  GRReporter
11181 reads

Yes, they have. Now we see a new revival. The nuclear lobby, after being silent for about 15 - 20 years, once again has begun to provoke discussions in favour of nuclear energy, arguing that "oil prices are rising", "this is the only solution to the economic crisis", and that "lignite is also dangerous for human health". These people managed to impose the perception in the European Union that this energy is "green", which is a big lie. I'll explain why. Although the nuclear power plant does not contribute to increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during its operation, very large amounts of carbon dioxide are produced during the stages of its construction, the extraction of the nuclear fuel and the destruction of the nuclear reactor. So, it is wrong to say that this is "green" energy.

The most negative is that all these nuclear power plants are associated with nuclear and radioactive weapons. Governments of countries that need nuclear weapons always strive to have nuclear power plants. This connection makes the companies and people who build them even more powerful. Of course, since people were afraid in recent years and governments have required very high security specifications, the construction cost of a nuclear power plant, which is half the value of its destruction cost, has become very high. For this reason, renewable energy sources began to compete with nuclear technology on price basis and they should be preferred.

For example, the French company Areva had to deliver a finished nuclear power plant in Finland in 1999. The company built the whole casing, but it turned out that it is not safe because the concrete did not have the required density. Areva argued then that there was an error in the translation from the Finnish language so they destroyed what was constructed and had to start again. So, they had a delay of ten years. If the government of Finland had begun to create ecological parks and other similar plants within this period, it would produce some of the energy of the country ecologically and would not have to wait ten years for the construction of the nuclear power plant.

As I said, I was concerned about the ongoing discussion in Greece on the good side of nuclear energy. Even a political leader argued some time ago: "when our neighbours build nuclear power plants, why don’t we?". This is crazy. We think that we should exert pressure and we should do it again just like we stopped the construction of the Akuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey the first time, and just as we could "freeze" the construction of Belene NPP we should not allow it to start again. We do not want the countries to lose their energy independence, but to provide the funds they spend now for making safer nuclear power plants for alternative energy development.

Tags: SocietyAnti-nuclear movementKozloduy NPPBeleneRenewable energy sources
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