Waiting for the Nuclear Renaissance: Exploring the Nexus of Expansion and Disposal in Europe

Waiting for the Nuclear Renaissance:

Exploring the Nexus of Expansion and Disposal in Europe

Jane I. DawsonWeinmann Professor of Government &

Environmental Studies

The Nuclear Doldrums1979-2003

Popular Opposition in U.S. & Western Europe

Cost

Three Mile Island & Chernobyl

Nuclear Power: The Answer to Climate Change?

The new “low-carb” alternative

A “Renaissance” for Nuclear Power?

• Currently 443 nuclear reactors – 30 countries

• 29 new reactors under construction -

majority in Asia

• Europe: Finland’s Olkiluoto-3 and plans for new builds across Europe

• U.S: First licensing applications for new reactor construction since 1979

Impact of the GHG Crisis:

• Unraveling united front of environmental ngos – Splits emerging on nuclear issue

• Governments recalculating pros & cons of nuclear energy

Kyoto, Copenhagen, & Beyond

Promising Signs of Impending Climate Change Action in the U.S.A.

U.S. Legislation:• Waxman-Markey Bill of 2009

EPA & the Clean Air Act

GHG Protocols & Targets

WAITING for the Nuclear Renaissance

Nuclear Waste:

The Industry’s “Achilles’ Heel”

The principle of “national responsibility”

• Public opposition and failed siting attempts

• The European Union’s failed “Nuclear Package”

Two Small Countries Leading the Way

• KBS-3 Technology

Environmental Justice

• Standard Definition:

A fair and equitable distribution of environmental benefits, burdens, and decision-making power across all members of society

Finland’s Onkalo Facility: “Not just a hole in the ground”

Lessons?

• Siting Process: Voluntarist

• Nuclear Oases vs. Virgin Sites

• Democracy & Veto Power

• TRUST

How universal a model?

U.K. & the Voluntarist Approach

Wanted: Communities to volunteer to host a giant underground nuclear bunker. Guaranteed jobs for thousands of years; attractive annual payment package; should be in geologically stable area.

Need to know: 10bn plus construction package will involve excavation of hundreds of millions of tonnes of rock, and the building of new roads, railway lines and workshops. Site may attract terrorists; potential safety risk for one million years or more.

The London Guardian, June 26, 2007

The Nuclear Nexus

• Finnish Parliament approves Onkalo Repository (May 2001)

• Finnish Parliament approves fifth reactor (May 2002)

The Yucca Mountain Debacle

A New Day for Nuclear?

Will it be this? Or this?

Thank you!