In an interesting development, WSJ has changed the title of this article from "Sweden Mulls Lifting Ban on Nuclear Power Buildup" to "Sweden Set to Overturn Ban on Nuclear Power", and updated content to include "Sweden says it will overturn a ban on building new nuclear-power stations".
Also, "Italy, ...moved last year to lift the ban. Poland, ...has announced plans to build its first nuclear-power station. The U.K. last year gave the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear-power stations to replace the nine that are due to be retired by 2023." And, "Slovakia, moved to reopen an obsolete, Soviet-type nuclear reactor... Similarly, Bulgaria sought EU permission to resurrect two old reactors of Soviet design that it mothballed when it joined the bloc two years ago." It should be noted that all Soviet-designed reactors have been upgraded since Chernobyl - there are no Chernobyl-style RBMK reactors operating anywhere in the world today, according to IAEA. Sweden was wary of nuclear power before the Chernobyl accident, due largely to its unknown "fear factor". The Chernobyl "worst case" accident happened not far from its national borders, killing several dozen Ukrainians, sickening several thousand, and frightening millions all across Europe and the wider world. Now Sweden is seriously considering the resumption of nuclear power replacement or expansion, in light of Russia's natural gas policy with Ukraine, a major player in transshipment of natural gas to Sweden and the European Community. Sweden appears to have reconciled the risk of civilian nuclear power production - both measureable and imaginary - with the real need for heat and power production and distribution in northern latitudes. Political ideologues the world over should take note. -dl ----- Original Message ----- From: Don Libby Newsgroups: gmane.science.general.global-change To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 9:08 AM Subject: [Global Change: 3112] Swedish nuclear dilemma In 1980 Swedes passed a referendum to withdraw nuclear power as a domestic electric power source, which supplies half of their generation. In 1997 economist William Nordhouse questioned the wisdom of that policy in his book _Swedish Nuclear Dilemma_ http://www.rff.org/rff_press/pages/bookdetail.aspx?outputid=3103 Today, the Wall Street Journal reports "Sweden Mulls Lifting Ban on Nuclear Power Buildup" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123383412268951903.html Let reason prevail, and may California and Wisconsin also repeal prohibition, sez I! -dl --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
