22 Nov (NucNet): A cross-party group of 56 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have signed a declaration calling for nuclear power to be maintained and developed as a key component of “a low-carbon energy future” for the EU.
The declaration was presented today in Brussels, Belgium, by Alejo Vidal-Quadras, second vice-president of the parliament and a Spanish member of the parliament’s conservative group EPP-ED.
The declaration reads in part: “We therefore support the optimal use of existing nuclear capacity and the building of new nuclear power plants to help meet significant future electricity demand. However, we strongly believe that there is no single solution to this global problem. All low-carbon power generation technologies will need to contribute.”
Mr Vidal-Quadras, himself a signatory and head of the parliament’s delegation that will attend next month’s UN climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, said: “The declaration shows the growing political will within the parliament and across Europe to see nuclear energy play an increasingly important role, as part of a lower carbon energy mix, in the forging of EU climate change and energy policy up to and beyond 2012.”
Fellow MEP and signatory Edit Herczog, a Hungarian member of the socialist group PSE, said in a supporting statement: “We cannot exclude the use of any energy resources just for political or ideological reasons. The key factor which must be regarded when composing the energy mix is environmental protection and the mitigation of the effects of climate change… Nuclear energy is a major contributor to the security of electricity supply.”
The parliament’s Green/EFA group was the only political group from which no MEP signed the declaration.
Initiated by Foratom, the trade association for the nuclear energy industry in Europe, the declaration has been endorsed by Business Europe – the Confederation of European Business, Eurelectric – the European electricity industry union and IFIEC Europe – the International Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers.
Foratom director-general Santiago San Antonio said: “This declaration is the latest in a series of political initiatives with the European Parliament which, following on from the recent adoption of the Reul Report on conventional energy sources and energy technology, have confirmed nuclear energy’s place at the centre of EU energy policy. It will provide impetus to the drive for nuclear new build in many (EU) member states.”
