The future of nuclear energy in Europe

More than 430 nuclear power plants are in operation in 33 countries worldwide. In 1999, they generated nearly 2.4 billion kilowatthours, thus meeting approximately one fifth of the world population's electricity requirement. Every third nuclear power plant is located in a member country of the European Union. These 145 plants generated an aggregate 826 billion kilowatthours last year. This corresponds to almost one third of the entire electricity generation in Europe. The special future requirements facing individual countries and power utilities not only ecologically, as a consequence of the Kyoto Protocol, but also economically, as a consequence of the deregulation of the European electricity market, make the intention of Germany to dispense with the use of nuclear power incomprehensible to the French point of view. Germany must pay special attention to fulfilling its international treaties and bilateral contracts, as Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of Cogema, explained in her presentation at the Bonn KTG conference. This applied in particular to the back end of the fuel cycle. In this respect, the head of Cogema argues that the waste and spent fuel management pathway must be chosen freely by the operator of a nuclear power plant. Within the safety requirements applying equally to all operators, the operator may freely decide under economic aspects whether he wants to recycle his spent fuel or dispose of it as waste. Only when this freedom of choice is guaranteed and used will it be ensured that the economically and technically best solution will win the day in the competition of systems. (orig.)