Greens – Europeans line up to reject nuclear power

Europeans line up to reject nuclear power
Media release: Senator Scott Ludlam, Wednesday June 1, 2011

The Australian Greens welcome the news that eight European countries
have formed an anti-nuclear alliance.

Greens nuclear affairs spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said that
following announcements from Germany and Switzerland that those nations
would completely abandon nuclear power, eight other European countries
have banded together to take a stand against the dilapidated industry.

“Ministers and other delegates from the eight nations met in Vienna last
week and issued a declaration on the need to phase out nuclear power,”
he said. “The delegations said nuclear power ‘is not compatible with the
concept of sustainable development and… does not provide a viable
option to combat climate change’. They are completely right on both
counts.”

Senator Ludlam said the governments of Austria, Portugal, Latvia, Malta,
Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Greece and Ireland had taken a clear position
in favour of renewable energy sources.

“Their declared aim is the transition from nuclear and fossil fuel to
renewable sources of energy and the improvement of energy efficiency
through technological and institutional innovation. This is an exciting
development – we are seeing real leadership on the issue, from this
alliance as well as Germany and Switzerland,” said Senator Ludlam.

The anti-nuclear alliance has formed against the backdrop of U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s decision to hold a high-level meeting of
world leaders on the subject of nuclear safety and security in September
2011.

“The nuclear industry is clearly rattled that the intractable risks it
poses will be the subject of an international conference – we look
forward to that debate.”

A recent global study on the fortunes of the nuclear industry paints a
detailed statistical picture of an industry in terminal decline,
demonstrating that anti-nuclear sentiment is entrenched well beyond
Europe:

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/8069

Media Contact: Giovanni Torre – 0417 174 302