By Peter Hannaford on 1.31.08 @ 12:07AM
If the U.S. remains shy of nuclear power, French President Sarkozy will be glad to help us overcome our inhibitions.
He's dashing, he's determined and he's moving like a dervish to
get France off its duff and become the leading country in Europe.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who charmed the socks off a joint
session of the U.S. Congress not so long ago, recognizes that
France must be more than wine, food and fashion. So, he has become
the world's foremost salesman of nuclear energy.
While Sarkozy's predecessor, the sly and suave Jacques Chirac,
spent his time nurturing la gloire de France and spiting
the United States whenever possible, Sarkozy got right down to
business after his inauguration last May and is the friendliest
Frenchman toward the U.S. since the days of the American
Revolution
Nuclear power generation was decided on some years ago by the
French as the cleanest, most efficient way to provide electricity.
Today, some 80 percent of the country's electric power comes from a
sophisticated network of nuclear power plants.
France has become a world leader in nuclear reactors, the
design, construction and operation of power plants, and the
treatment of waste. In France, all the suppliers in this chain of
activities are owned by the state. France's Atomic Energy
Commission can help a client country set up the necessary
regulatory framework. Areva constructs reactors and transmission
networks. Alstom, the French engineering company, is a supplier of
nuclear steam turbine generators. Electricite de France, which
operates 58 nuclear power stations in France, can train the client
country personnel in operations.
This package was a natural for Sarkozy to take on the road, and
he has. So far he has signed nuclear cooperation agreements with
Algeria, Libya and Morocco. French firms will also oversee the
building of two nuclear power stations in China. Prospects he is
wooing include Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Egypt and Qatar.
The fever seems to be catching. In mid-January, the government
of the United Kingdom approved the building of at least four new
nuclear power stations. Italy may even come back to nuclear power.
After the Chernobyl power plant meltdown in 1986, Italians banned
it in a referendum. Today, Italy is the world's largest net
importer of electricity. The other day, the head of a major Italian
utility said that Italy -- and all of Europe -- must reduce their
dependence on natural gas by using more nuclear power.
And what of the U.S.? Beginning in the late sixties and early
seventies, a segment of the environmental movement bent on reducing
the output of industrial society, began a campaign to create public
fear of nuclear energy. It worked, especially after the Three Mile
Island incident in Pennsylvania in 1979. Fear grew and, along with
it, Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) local resistance to plant sitings --
anywhere. No new plants have been licensed in 30 years (although
some previously licensed were opened in the nineties).
Today, approximately 20 percent of U.S. electricity is produced
by nuclear power plants. There are plants operating in 31 states.
Ironically, Vermont, the Green Mountain State and one of the
"greenest" in the nation, generates 75.1 percent of its electricity
from nuclear power.
With updated technology and enhanced safety elements, 26 new
American facilities are working their way through the permitting
process. As for fear, Franklin D. Roosevelt's statement fits here:
"We have nothing to fear, but fear itself." If we don't get over it
and begin to reduce our dependence on coal, Nicolas Sarkozy will
soon be here to sell us some French nuclear plants.
topics:
Business, Environment, Energy
