Not content with building a nuclear reactor that has become a laughing stock and a byword for incompetence and waste, Finland’s government went even further last week by voting to approve the construction of two more reactors.
Once again nuclear boosters find themselves unable to face up to reality or learn by their mistakes. How could anybody look at the ridiculous Olkiluoto-3 (OL3) reactor currently being built by AREVA in Finland – four years late and a budget exploding to twice the original – and come to the conclusion that what the country needs is to dig another massive financial hole?
With costs continuing to spiral at Olkiluoto and the project’s completion date disappearing further and further into the future, the smart move would be to cancel the project and forget about the thin hopes of successfully building two more.
The biggest hurdle to actually starting nuclear construction will be the investment decisions, expected in 2012. Greenpeace calls upon shareholders of the companies TVO and Fennovoima to move quickly to make it clear to the companies that they will not allow any more money to be squandered on this absurd and bankrupt industry. It is time they made their voices heard and call for investment in 21st century green energy solutions.
Because that’s the problem with nuclear industry: it is a block to cheap, reliable and immediately available energy solutions that, unlike nuclear, can build a real defence against climate change. Just think of the renewable energy projects and energy efficiency programmes that could be established with the time, money and resources the nuclear industry is determined to squander.
Greenpeace’s Energy [R]evolution is a realistic blueprint that shows how we all can get from where we are now to where we need to be: phasing out fossil fuels and cutting CO2 while ensuring energy security and the phase-out of nuclear energy. This includes illustrating how the world’s carbon emissions from the energy and transport sectors alone can peak by 2015 and be cut by over 80 percent by 2050.
OL3 was supposed to be a bridging power solution to cover electricity needs while the transition to renewable energy gathered pace. Instead, it has served as an excuse for lacklustre policies on renewable energy, energy efficiency and emissions for a decade, resulting in a political lock-in on nuclear. It has made politicians lazy at the exact moment they should be at their most hard-working and imaginative.
(Greenpeace briefings on nuclear, including background on the vote in Finland can be found here.)