Date:08/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/08/stories/2007120853661500.htm

International

Nuclear energy not sustainable yet, says Dutch Minister

Aarti Dhar

The Netherlands’ only operational nuclear plant will be shut down by 2033

THE HAGUE: The Dutch government believes that nuclear energy is not sustainable as of now; hence it has not included nuclear energy in its clean energy policy.

Interacting with a group of visiting journalists here, the Dutch Minister for Environment and Spatial Planning, Jacqueline Cramer, said The Netherlands believed that nuclear energy was not sustainable yet as safety of the plants and disposal of waste continued to be a problem.

“May be 30 years later, it will be sustainable. Not as of now,” she said. Her government had not included nuclear energy in its clean energy policy. “We encourage the use of fossil energy, natural gases and clean coal in a judicious manner.”

The Netherlands’ only operational nuclear plant will be shut down by 2033. The country plans to reduce greenhouse gases by 30 per cent by 2020 compared with 1990, thereby saving 2 per cent energy annually.

Eco-friendly

To create “new energy for climate,” the government had pumped in an additional 500 million Euros for developing sustainable energy. At the international level, it is pushing for production of biomass energy, new financial arrangements for adopting environment-friendly technologies and promoting clean development mechanisms in the developing countries.

“We have a role to play in bridging the gap between the developed (like the U.S.) and the fast developing nations (India and China) and we have to act now,” she asserted.

Suggesting more funds for promoting clean development mechanisms, the Minister admitted that some developing countries had a bigger problem in adopting new technology due to shortage of funds.

Ms. Cramer expressed the hope that the ongoing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference at Bali would at least reach an agreement to chalk out a roadmap for reducing emissions in the coming two years. “Arriving at a consensus is not easy but it is in the interest of everyone to find a solution.” Pointing out that the European countries were in the front in finding the solution, Ms. Cramer appreciated the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the former U.S. Vice-President, Al Gore, in highlighting the issue of climate change.