The last season of cheap electricity

The former 'Mr. SuperCEZ', as the Czech media often used to call Jaroslav Mil, claims he is not a nuclear fundamentalist. But in his opinion without the use of nuclear energy, Europe must expect an increase in the electricity price. The experience of the former director of CEZ caught the attention of the Italian directors of Enel and so he is now a member of the Board of Directors of Slovenske elektrarne. He criticises EU measures that do not offer a solution for either the energy sector or environment protection but make investments in the replacement of decommissioned European power stations uncertain. He says he is not an uncritical advocate of nuclear power, but in his opinion we do not have much choice. Energy consumption is growing fast and resources are being depleted. And if Europe does not want to become dependent on Russia there is no other option. Unless we want Putin's vision to come true: coal and nuclear resources will be kept by Russia for internal use and gas is for export. In the opinion of J. Mil, politicians are often populists and are only doing their jobs. They think in terms of 4-year election periods and then only in the better cases. He recalls that in 2000 politicians seriously considered the possibility of closing down the Temelin nuclear power station in the Czech Republic. As long as there is electricity in the sockets and the bulbs are glowing there is no crisis. The crisis will come when there is no electricity. He stresses that there will always be electricity but for a different price. He mentioned emission permits as an example of the attitude politicians have. This is a useless measure that only supports big business available to a narrow circle which does not help the environment at all. The Kyoto protocol without China, Brazil, India and the USA is a nightmare and does not solve anything in his opinion. (authors)