17 April 2006International Herald Tribune
Britain, Europe's biggest natural-gas consumer, should meet its electricity needs by relying on gas-fired plants and renewable energy sources in the next decade rather than nuclear power, a group of lawmakers said in a report released Sunday.
Nuclear power plants would take too long to build, would need subsidies and may cut carbon emissions less than expected, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee said. The answer to meeting the country's energy needs lies in many more gas- powered electricity plants and increasing sources of renewable energy like wind and waves, said the 81-page report, titled "Keeping the Lights On." Under current plans, 18 of Britain's 23 nuclear reactors, some dating to the 1960s, will be shut by 2015. Even if demand does not increase, a quarter of British electricity generation capacity will have to be replaced over the next nine years, including gas- and coal-fired plants. Nuclear and coal power plants now supply about 60 percent of Britain's electricity. The government, which has acknowledged it is likely to miss its own goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2010, is halfway through a six-month review of the country's future energy needs and how to meet them. The paper could be seen a blow to Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is believed to back nuclear power because, in November, he specifically asking the committee to consider the option. Blair is expected to make a decision on whether to build more nuclear plants before Parliament recesses at the end of July. The environmental committee raised other concerns about nuclear power, including the diminishing availability of uranium supplies needed to run the plants and the risk of terrorism. $@ Zapatero backs shareholders The Spanish prime minister said in an interview published Sunday that shareholders of the country's biggest power company, Endesa, should be free to decide which of two rival takeover offers to accept, Reuters reported from Madrid. Endesa's fate will be "whatever its shareholders decide," José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told El Mundo. The €29 billion, or $35 billion, bid by the German utility E.ON is worth around €7 billion more than a rival bid from Gas Natural of Spain. While the government has leaned toward the Spanish bid, it is opposed by Endesa itself and by Spain's Competition Tribunal.
