Adelaide Advertiser
Saturday 7/2/2009 Page: 70
THE Swedish Government has agreed to scrap a three-decade ban on building nuclear reactors, saying it needs atomic power to avoid producing more greenhouse gases. Though Sweden is a leader on renewable energy, it is struggling to develop alternative sources, like hydropower and wind, to replace nuclear energy, which accounts for half of its electricity production.
If Parliament approves scrapping the ban Sweden would join a growing list of countries rethinking nuclear energy amid concerns over global warming and the reliability of energy suppliers such as Russia. Britain, France and Poland are planning new reactors and Finland is building Europe's first new atomic plant in over a decade. The agreement was made possible after a compromise by the Centre Party, a junior coalition member which has long held a sceptical stance towards nuclear energy.
"I'm doing this for the sake of my children and grandchildren," said party leader Maud Olofsson. "I can live with the fact that nuclear energy will be part of our electricity supply system in the foreseeable future." Lawmakers decided to phase out nuclear energy after a referendum in 1980 when concerns about nuclear safety were running high in the wake of a partial meltdown a year earlier at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania.
Only two of Sweden's 12 reactors have been closed and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said he didn't feel bound by the referendum because it didn't specify how to replace nuclear energy. Swedish public opinion polls have shown growing support for nuclear energy in recent years because of the lack of alternatives. But anti-nuclear activists said reinvigorating nuclear energy would undermine the development of renewable alternatives. "To rely on nuclear energy to reduce CO2, emissions is like smoking to lose weight - it's not a good idea," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Martina Kruger.
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