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European Commission Subsidizing the building of more nuclear facilities is a bad idea

After Fukushima-Daichi, why is the European commission subsidizing nuclear plants in the UK?, Energy Digital,Tomas H. Lucero, 4 July 15 Greenpeace, a “leading independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future” (greenpeace.org) and nine German and Austrian utilities selling renewables announced on Thursday that they will be taking legal action against the European commission’s decision to subsidize the Hinkley Point C nuclear project in the United Kingdom.

[Related: [INFOGRAPHIC] Picturing the Complex Nuclear Energy Landscape]

The utilities joining Greenpeace are “Energieversorgung Filstal, municipal utilities (called Stadtwerke) of Aalen, Bietigheim-Bissingen, Bochum, Mainz, Muehlacker, Schwaebisch Hall and Tuebingen and Austria’s oekostrom,” according to Reuters.

Greenpeace, and companies’, rationale for their lawsuit  is that “billions of euros of subsidies for nuclear energy would distort prices in mainland European power markets, which are linked to those in Britain via a small French interconnector,” reports Reuters.

Price guarantees for Hinkley Point C’s output, calculated over 35 years, would amount to 108 billion euros and state guarantees for construction would be upwards of 20 billion euros.

“Artificially low prices of electricity derived from subsidized nuclear plants would push up prices German consumes were paying for green energy,” said the plaintiffs, quoted by Reuters.

EDF, a French utility, is the entity hired to build the new nuclear facility………..http://www.energydigital.com/utilities/3882/After-Fukushima-Daichi-why-is-the-European-commission-subsidizing-nuclear-plants-in-the-UK

Subsidizing the building of more nuclear facilities is a bad idea because nuclear energy is too dangerous.

A clear example of the danger of nuclear energy is the Fukushima-Daichi disaster. Radiation continues to spill into the water and the air. The general population is being kept in the dark about the ultimate effects of the accident.

The money currently destined to subsidize Hinkley Point C can be put to much better use by investing it in green energy R&D. Private enterprise has already made great strides towards developing energy storage batteries that can tide people over nights and winters. A public-private enterprise with high tech may be just the needed push to create cost-effective solutions to energy storage.

Greenpeace and their allies argue that subsidizing nuclear energy will increase the price of green energy in the future in Europe. The laws of economics support this……If we put a man on the moon we can design batteries that will store wind and solar energy for future use. We can also design more efficient turbines and panels that will increase the energy created from the elements. Nuclear energy needs to be scrapped and monies need to be redirected towards the future, green, renewable energy sources.

July 6, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general