Eva GoĂŤs Chairperson of Green Forum Foundation Sweden Global Green Coordinator
1980 Referendum 1986 Before after Chernobyl 1988 MP 1990 Osaka 1995 Moruroa
New law June 2010 Allows building new nuclear power plants on the three places in Sweden 10 new reactors Direct or indirect government subsidies prohibited Legislation not completed
1990-ies 5 of 12 reactors stopped Accident with insulation material in the filter Hearing in the Parliament about the risks and the costs 1990-ies No new era for nuclear power. The climate change
2006-07-25 Forsmark I • Vor einer Woche kam es zu einer Beinahe-Katastrophe im schwedischem Atomreaktor Forsmark I. Nach einem Kurzschluss fielen dort mehrere Sicherheitssysteme aus. Ein Reaktorkonstrukteur hält es für Zufall, dass keine Kernschmelze erfolgte
2011 forgot a wet vacuum cleaner in Ringhals reactor • Fire • 7 months stop • Costs 1 800 000 000 SEK = 180 000 000 €
Surplus of electricity in Sweden to 2020 th • Nobody knows the costs for building new reactors • After Fukushima just 8 % wants to buy nuclear energy in Sweden • 83 % wants to buy renewable energy
2000 Village in Gomel, Belarus
Citibank group analysis • The enormous technical and financial risks involved in the construction and operation of new nuclear power plants make them prohibitive for private investors. • Are the taxpayers willing to pay again including all risks?
- High construction costs - long delays in building - extended periods of depreciation of equipment inherent to the construction and operation of new power plants - lack of guarantees for prices of electricity
Adding to these • The global meltdown • Consequent cautious behavior of investors • Fiscal and revenue difficulties of governments in the industrialised countries • "the risks faced by developers … are so large and variable that individually they could each bring even the largest utility
Citibank report • Most governments in industrialised countries today have only "sought to limit the planning risk" for investors. • But, while it is "important for encouraging developers to bring forward projects, [planning] is the least important risk financially," the survey goes on.
Citibank report Environmental activists would add safety issues as another major risk – both the handling of highly radioactive nuclear waste and the likelihood of accidents at nuclear power stations
Citibank report According to the paper, the costs of constructing a new nuclear power plant range between 2,500 to 3,500 euros (3,420 US dollars) per kilowatt hour.
Citibank report • "We see very little prospect of these costs falling and every likelihood of them rising further"
• To meet such costs, the operator would need a guarantee of constant electricity prices around 65 euros (88.9 dollars) per MW/hour for a long period of time.
Christoph Pistner, German Institute for Applied Ecology • Most power plants have to be running for at least 20 years to reach the operation period free of depreciation and impairments costs. • Only after this period, a nuclear power plant starts yielding returns.
Christoph Pistner said • In addition - developers of nuclear power plants are confronted with yet another risk: • "The industry disposes of little references on the buildings costs of new nuclear power plants because there are very few units in construction."
Thibaut Madelin,French energy expert says that: “The uncertainties linked to the construction costs of such plants have been magnified by the global financial crisis, which makes such huge investments unlikely. “For a nuclear power plant of 1,600 MW, you need at least eight years, and a construction budget of up to six billion euros (8.2 billion dollars). That means that the investor of a new nuclear power plant would start seeing some money only eight years after she invested a huge amount of money."
Construction delays “If the construction of a nuclear power plant lasts more than 10 years, 120 months, the project becomes a financial catastrophe"
Figures by IAEA say that construction delays jumped from 64 months to 146 months between 1976 and 2008.
Commentary by IAEA S Squassoni, researcher at the U.S. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, concluded “the financial crisis and the construction costs constitute almost insurmountable obstacles to the renaissance of nuclear power�
Squassoni wrote: • "The current economic crisis could make financing nuclear power plants particularly difficult." • "Financing costs account for between 25 and 80 percent of the total cost of construction because nuclear power plants take much longer to build than alternatives."
Squassoni noted that • for example, wind plants require 18 months to build, • combined cycle gas turbines need 36 months, • but nuclear power plants take at least 60 months
The Citibank survey concludes that • without taxpayers money there is "little if any prospect that new nuclear stations will be built … by the private sector unless developers can lay off substantial elements of the three major risks. • Financing guarantees, minimum power prices, and/or government-backed power off-take agreements may all be needed if stations are to be built."
Green New Deal Investment in energy efficiency and renewable energies is the smartest! • For each euro invested in energy efficiency and renewables you can achieve up to 11 times more reductions in greenhouse gas emmissions than nuclear power. • Nuclear power is an investment blackhole! • It monopolises enormous public subsidies, the decommissioning of NPP and managing radioactive waste will reach hundreds of billions of euros.