"Yet, nuclear power can only deliver electricity," said Jan Haverkamp, Greenpeace EU dirty energy policy campaigner.
"There is absolutely no reason to re-start Bohunice, a dangerous Soviet-era nuclear power plant," he added.
Posted on 01/12/2009 2:15:02 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
The European Commission warned Slovakia Monday that its decision to reactivate an old nuclear reactor runs counter to EU law and was "not an option."
If the Slovakian government reactivates the Bohunice nuclear plant "that would be a clear violation" of the treaty that Bratislava signed to become an EU member, said commission spokesman Ferran Tarradellas.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said earlier that his government would restart a nuclear reactor at the plant unless Russian gas supplies were restored to Europe on Monday.
The Soviet-type nuclear reactor at the Jaslovske Bohunice plant in western Slovakia was shut down on December 31 in line with the former communist country's pledge to the EU ahead of Slovak accession in May 2004.
The threat to restart it has drawn an angry reaction from neighbouring Austria but another neighbour, the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, has been more lenient.
"For us the reopening (of the nuclear reactor) is not an option," Tarradellas stressed.
EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs was to meet Slovakian Energy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek in Brussels later Monday to discuss the issue.
"We are not meeting them to tell them that we agree with a reactivation. That is impossible from a legal point of view as it runs contrary to European Union law," said Tarradellas.
Slovakia, which depends on Russia for 98 percent of natural gas imports, sent in via Ukraine, declared a state of energy emergency last Tuesday to economise on its gas reserves, estimated to last for six days.
Environmental group Greenpeace warned that the Slovak decision to restart the nuclear facility "would put the whole of Europe at risk."
"This is nothing more than a con by Slovak authorities. In Slovakia, natural gas is mostly used for heating; at most, it only generates six percent of electricity.
"Yet, nuclear power can only deliver electricity," said Jan Haverkamp, Greenpeace EU dirty energy policy campaigner.
"There is absolutely no reason to re-start Bohunice, a dangerous Soviet-era nuclear power plant," he added.
Slovak officials fear the pressure in the local gas pipelines could fall to such a level that it would no longer be possible to supply gas to eastern Slovak households during the extremely severe winter.
Russia and Ukraine are involved in a bitter wrangle over payments for Russian gas which has cut supplies to Europe via a key pipeline through Ukraine.
EU officials voiced confidence Monday that the Russian gas tap would be turned back on on Tuesday.
Libs against energy again.
I hope they restart it. When energy is needed people don’t have 10 years to wait for the alternative governments are always promising. They have no choice.
I can see this happening in America sometime in the not so distant future.
Slovakia - you joined the EU - you gave up your sovereignty. Now go freeze in the dark.
But Iran, now that’s okay. EU / PU...
"Yet, nuclear power can only deliver electricity," said Jan Haverkamp, Greenpeace EU dirty energy policy campaigner.
"There is absolutely no reason to re-start Bohunice, a dangerous Soviet-era nuclear power plant," he added.
France has 59 nuclear plants with 1 under construction. Many other EU countries have nuclear plants. It sounds like a double-standard to me.
Nobody wants another Chernobyl, but nobody wants to freeze in the dark either. How about the staff, is it competent?
This should be an engineering decision, not a political one.
From what I've read, Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant consists of five reactors. The first one opened in 1972 and is a 145MW HWGCR (Heavy Water Gas Cooled Reactor). In 1977 it sufferred an INES level 4 accident.
The other four are 440MW Soviet VVER's, which are PWR's (Pressurized Water Reactors). In other words, the safest type of reactor currently in large scale use. This is the type the US Navy uses, along with the majority of the commercial plants in use in the US (69 of the 104 are PWR's; the remaining 35 are BWR's-Boiling Water Reactors). At least one, and possible two, of these four of these PWR's at the Slovak plant have been shut down.
What that eniro-nut is trying to do by calling them "Soviet design" is for you to think of Chernobyl. None of the four reactors at Chernobyl were PWRs. They were Soviet RBMK's, which are boiling water reactors with graphite moderators. (PWR's and BWR's use water as the moderator.)
It looks like the Slovaks just want to restart one of their PWR's. Nothing to be afraid of.
The ones they want to start are PWR’s. Nothing like the RBMK types at Chernobyl. PWR’s are what the US Navy uses, and what 69 of the 104 commercial reactors in the US are.
This is a pretty typical “news” article these days. The report says that the EU has its panties all in a twist but never says WHY!
Then pray tell, Monsieur Bureaucrat, what are the options? Aside from freezing to death, that is.
From Wikipedia:
Bohunice NPP comprises two plants: V-1 and V-2. Annual electricity generation averages about 12,000 GWh. Upon development of a district heating supply network in the town of Trnava near Bohunice NPP, V-2 switched to co-generation. Part of this system is a heat feeder line commissioned in 1987. In 1997 a heat feeder line to Leopoldov and Hlohovec was begun, branching off from the Trnava line.
For those of you not familiar with nuclear reactors, their entire purpose is to boil water. Whether you use it to power a steam turbine generator or for heating steam send-out doesn't bother the reactor one bit. And in a PWR style reactor, such as these particular ones in Slovakia, the water boiled by the reactor plant does not come in contact with the reactor core or reactor coolant.
Slovakia should just shrug and point out that the communist government that agreed to this was an illegitimate puppet regime, so the current government should not feel bound by its promises.
Even more so, they should call the EU’s bluff. The EU is led by men of such spinelessness and personal cowardice that anyone can bully them, and all they can do is whine, curse, and sneer.
I imagine the EU Greenpeace guy and his family is warm and toasty.
Besides unpleasant, cold conditions cause a rise in fatal pneumonia of all ages and especially the elderly. Cold, kills.
This begs the question, why were they shut down in the first place?
Because nookular reactors are scary.
Neighboring Austria wanted them shut down. Austria has no reactor plants; in fact it is prohibited by law there. All that and Bohunice has already had a reactor accident. Of course that was a completely different design reactor than the ones that have been operating safely for years and want to restart. The Austrians probably think all reactors can do what Chernobyl did.
Of course most people don’t know that Chernobyl kept running reactors 1, 2, and 3 long after the steam explosion and melt down of reactor 4. The melt down was in 1986, the last reactor (#3) was shut down in 2000. It seems most people think reactor plants explode like atomic bombs, but that is not possible.
Here’s a Google map of Chernobyl. See if you can tell which reactor exploded and which one operated safely for 14 years after the other one melted down.
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