Nuclear Power

During his visit to Prague in November 2016, Hungarian Green MEP Benedek Jávor gave an interview to EurActiv.cz on the latest development around the controversial project of Hungarian nuclear power plant Paks II.

Contrary to the objective to quit nuclear energy, a recent paper of the European Commission’s DG Research maps out possible nuclear research priorities. An analysis to put the latest developments into perspective.

Thirty years after the biggest nuclear disaster at Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine is still seriously dependent on nuclear energy. It is high time for Ukraine to take the path of nuclear phase-out.

India is driving a nuclear and missiles arms race in one of the world’s most volatile and poorest regions, marked by persistent strategic hostility and a hot-cold war between India and Pakistan since 1947. There is very little clarity about India’s nuclear deterrence doctrine. This is likely to add to regional insecurity and instability.

Hungary receives massive aids from Russia in constructing new power plants. It is not only generosity, but mere a fiendishly clever economic strategy. Still legal and political risks have been neglected.

Cécile Maisonneuve is Director of the Center for Energy of the Institut Français des Relations Internationales. Paul Hockenos talked with her about the German Energiewende, France’s energy future and the public debate about the renewables, which is only just beginning.

The fifth largest earthquake recorded in history that hit northeast Japan led to the greatest nuclear accident that went down in the country’s 60-year past. The turkish reaction was mixed.

Major nuclear events and policy announcements have never led to mass protests in the UK. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Fukushima disaster is likely to have a profound effect on the scale and timing of the new British nuclear programme.

Argentina has been one of the first countries worldwide to build up a nuclear infrastructure since the 1950s. But after Fukushima, and in the context of possible financial restrictions in the coming years, the ambitious nuclear expansion plan presented by the government in 2010 of at least two more 700+ MW reactors seems less likely to be executed.

The effects of radioactive contamination on biological objects are manifested on all levels of organization – from viruses to ecosystems. The most brightly such effects can be seen within the Chornobyl exclusion zone, where biological objects were critically affected by the radiation.

Since 1992 Uruguay has a law forbidding the use of nuclear power. Nevertheless the energy ministry of the government worked on an energy plan for the next 25 years focused on a great increase in renewables, sustainable biofuels and energy efficiency, which would make a nuclear power plant obsolete.

In quake- and tsunami-striken Chile, things have turned different since March 12th. After Fukushima 86 percent of Chileans are against nuclear power and even 60 percent would not accept it “under any circumstances”. But the mega hydro projects are also controversial.

Michèle Rivasi about how the nuclear catastrophe in Japan is perceived in French society, media and politics.

In 2010 the Government of Thailand adopted the Power Development Plan. It provides the construction of five nuclear power plants. But the nuclear disaster in Japan has opened up the discussion about the nuclear future of Thailand again.

Under the impression of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents, our regional office in Bangkok organized a forum together with other organizations to exchange knowledge and draw conclusions for the local situation in Thailand.

The U.S. currently has 104 nuclear reactors. Many of them that have received extensions would never be approved for construction today, experts argue. The U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has not turned down a single renewal application thus far. How safe is nuclear power in the United States?  

To address the myths of nuclear power, the Heinrich Böll Foundation has commissioned renowned international nuclear experts to deliver reports that provide the public with an overview of current, facts rich, and nuclear-critical know-how.

Pakistan is looking to solve its energy supply crisis by importing nuclear reactors from China. However, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, of which China is a member, forbids transfer of any kind of nuclear technology to non-signatories of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty like Pakistan.

The treaty signed by Presidents Obama and Medvedev last week brings us closer to fulfilling the vision of a world without nuclear weapons, but only by mere inches. A Czech Perspective on the Impact of New START on the Global Non-Proliferation Debate.