Nuclear plant, Fukashima, Japan; photo - EPAPoland, together with France, Italy and the Czech Republic are in favour of pushing ahead with opening new plants, while Germany and Austria declaring a more cautious policy on nuclear energy following the crisis in Japan in the wake of the Tsunami which killed thousands and threatened meltdown in reactors at the Fukushima plant.
The meeting of energy ministers today will be followed by a long-planned EU energy summit on March 24-25, which will attended by heads of government from the 27 nation bloc.
Poland announced last year that it plans to build two nuclear power plants to help the nation wean itself off its dependence on carbon emitting coal, which accounts for 90 percent of energy supply in the country.
Zarnowiec, near the Baltic coast, is thought to be where the first of the nuclear power plants will be situated by 2020, although the government has yet to confirm the location.
Construction of the plant is planned to begin in 2016.
Last week, deputy economy minister Hanna Trojanowska said that Poland was determined to go ahead on schedule. “We are determined to continue with this programme,” the minister said.
“Poland’s nuclear energy program is needed,” Tomasz Zadroga, director of PGE, Poland’s largest electricity company has said.
“Our absolute priority is safety, so we are considering only the latest, so-called third generation, technology. In Japan, the damaged nuclear power unit was designed 50 years ago,” he added.
Poland has declared that energy security will be one of the key issues during the nation’s six-month EU presidency which begins on 1 July.
Nuclear energy 'essential'President Nicholas Sarkozy also indicated that atomic energy remains central to France’s energy supply plans.
"France has made the choice of nuclear energy, which is an essential element of its energy independence and the fight against greenhouse gases," he said last week.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, on the other hand, announced the closure of all nuclear power stations in Germany that began operating before 1980 for a minimum of three months - an abrupt u-turn on a decision taken less than five months ago to extend the power plants’ lives.
The move by the German head of government was lambasted as “a cheap stunt” by Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas.
PM Nečas said the German decision will not affect the Czech Republic’s nuclear policy, or shut down its Temelín nuclear plant in South Bohemia or the Dukovany plant in the Vysočina region.
“I see no reason why we should succumb to the media hysteria,” added Nečas, who leads the centre-right government in Prague said.
(pg)
source:
IAR/PAP/AFP