On the 28th of April, Calla – Association for Preservation of the Environment and Hnutí DUHA – Friends of the Earth Czech Republic held a conference in Prague titled “Reality of Nuclear Renaissance – Economic and safety aspects of nuclear power” in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Prague. Six experts from different backgrounds were invited to discuss the challenges and risks related to the generation of nuclear energy.
The first speaker of the first panel was the Scientific Consultant on Nuclear Safety, Helmut Hirsch, whose presentation was headed with the question “Which reactor types could be part of a nuclear renaissance?” A description of the types of reactors that are currently running – that is, mostly second-generation reactors – was followed by an evaluation of the alleged improvements implemented in the newer third-generation reactors. Hirsch took a critical view of safety standards and risks, despite the assurances of nuclear energy advocates that the probability of a severe accident is so small that it cannot serve as an argument against the construction of new nuclear power plants. As far as Hirsch is concerned, no significant safety improvements have been made to the third-generation reactors and too many factors remain unpredictable for nuclear catastrophes to be precluded.
Hirsch’s presentation was followed by an assessment made by Dalibor Stráský, External Adviser to the Ministry of Environment, of the fourth-generation reactors. His presentation, “Possibilities of the next generation of reactors”, focused on safety issues as well, explaining the technological changes integrated into different fourth-generation reactor designs – which, however, exist only in theory so far. Research results, he pointed out, were very vague to this date, so that one should not be too optimistic concerning the reactors’ safety and cost-effectiveness – not to mention the fact that the question of how to deal with nuclear waste still remains unsolved.
Whilst the first two speakers’ main concern was safety, Steve Thomas, professor for energy policy at the University of Greenwich, London, concentrated on the economic dimension of the nuclear power debate. He concluded his presentation "Economics of nuclear power and financial crisis" by stating that “energy efficiency achieves more policy aims than nuclear”, including “public welfare, energy security, greenhouse gas reductions, [and] job creation with few risks”. Financing problems for nuclear, he pointed out, existed even before the start of the current financial crisis, which means nuclear power is not the most cost-efficient source of energy either.
The second panel of the conference opened with the presentation of one of Hnutí DUHA’s analysts in its energy programme, Martin Sedlák, who spoke about the "Liability of nuclear utilities" and related problems. He raised concerns about the common practice of governments assuming liability in the event of a nuclear accident, claiming this might lower operators’ incentives to ensure the safety of their reactors. If there were no such “hidden subsidies” and operators had to acquire insurance on the free market instead, running a nuclear reactor would be a lot more expensive and thus less profitable.
The next speaker, chairperson of the State Office of Nuclear Safety Dana Drábová, contented herself with commenting on the current situation in more general and descriptive rather than critical terms. She regards existing security issues as minor problems that can be solved in the short term by making just a few minor adjustments. She insisted, despite the concerns voiced during the preceding speeches, that reactors in the Czech Republic were proven to be very safe in the technical sense. The only real challenges are therefore more organizational, such as making sure the staff of a reactor is well-trained in order to minimize the chance of human error or to prevent operators from prioritizing cost-efficiency over safety. Drábová is convinced of the indispensability of nuclear energy and stated that it was now vital to assure the public that reactors could be operated in a safe way. During the discussion that followed, the last speaker on the panel, a representative of Greenpeace, voiced his discontent with the way Drábová downplayed and marginalized the risks that accompany the generation of nuclear energy.
The conference’s last speaker was Patricie Lorenz of Friends of the Earth Europe, Brussels, who reported on her experiences at the “European Nuclear Forum”. She began her presentation “European Nuclear Forum – A place for discussion or a PR action?” with the observation that the apparent nuclear renaissance, whilst being once again promoted by some governments, is strongly rejected by large parts of society. NGOs are representing the public’s view at all kinds of conferences dealing with the issue, but their voice is often not heard and their comments are rarely included in the concluding documents. One of the NGOs’ main concerns is that IAEA nuclear safety standards are too basic and that EUlegislation on the issue is almost non-existent, since the agreements that have been adopted are based on the lowest common denominator.
The conference illuminated the topic “Reality of Nuclear Renaissance” from many different perspectives, including questions of safety, economics, and legal frameworks. The majority of speakers pointed to a whole range of concerns with regard to the future of nuclear energy which are highly underestimated in the current discussion in the Czech Republic on future National Energy Strategy. In the Czech debate, nuclear energy is seen by many experts and policy makers as the number one solution for improving the country’s energy security and independence and fulfilling ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets. This conference showed the weaknesses of the potential of nuclear power to solve energy-safety issues. Taking all the risks and unsolved problems of nuclear energy into account, it becomes clear that other effective tools for reducing the country’s energy dependence, such as energy efficiency, energy saving potentials and renewable energies, must strongly considered in the future National Energy Strategy of the Czech Republic.