Environmentalists Welcome 20 Years of Nuclear Free Wales Declaration

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Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth Cymru (FOE Cymru) are today celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Nuclear Free Wales Declaration and they are also calling on the National Assembly to make a similar declaration. The environmental group has also spoken of its part in an international campaign for a nuclear free twenty-first century.

On 23rd February 1982 Clwyd County Council passed a resolution to become a Nuclear Free Zone concluding a campaign to see the whole of Wales being declared a Nuclear Free Country. Although FOE Cymru still warn that Wales has an ageing nuclear power station at Wylfa, radwaste dumps and radioactive pollution from as far away as Chernobyl the declaration represented a long-term statement of intent about what we could do.

Indeed, on a wider front FOE Cymru is one of over sixty national FOE groups world-wide within FOE International which is essentially campaigning for a twenty-first century free of nuclear power and all that goes with it. FOE Cymru say that there is ample renewable energy world-wide that can be harnessed obviating the call for nuclear power building programmes in response to global warming.

Recently FOE Cymru wrote to the Prime Minister highlighting the vast solar energy resources in the worlds desert regions where poverty is rife (1). They pointed out that simple solar thermal arrays using mirrors covering an area equivalent to about 1% of the Sahara or similar desert areas could produce all the worlds electricity consumption cost-effectively (2). It would require about 1,700 nuclear power stations and a worldwide network of nuclear fuel and waste shipment routes to generate that much electricity.
This would significantly increase the odds of accidental disasters or terrorist actions, more so in regions which may well suffer social destabilisation by climatic changes already likely.

Neil Crumpton, energy spokesperson for the group said,

"Global warming, the Governments Energy Review and the asymmetric warfare being practised by international terrorist groups have put the issue of nuclear power back in the spotlight. Yet twenty years down the line the spotlight only shows more clearly the disbenefits and dangers of nuclear power in comparison to clean, safe and secure renewable energy technologies which can supply Wales's and the worlds energy needs.

So, on this twentieth anniversary of the Nuclear Free Wales Declaration we reaffirm our campaign to help achieve a nuclear free Wales and we call on the National Assembly to make a similar declaration."

Notes

1) Following PMs 2001 Labour Party conference expressing concerns about world and especially African poverty.

2) Solar Thermal Arrays are arrays of curved mirrors which focus the suns energy on tubes which transfer the collected heat to standard steam turbine generators. Solar thermal power stations in desert area - according to much research at DLR, the German Aerospace Centre (URL below) estimate that 1% of the area of North Africa could provide over 100% of GLOBAL ELECTRICITY consumption (1998 figure) at competitive prices - building significant new plant would reduce costs by 2010 to around 6 UScents/kWhour - less before 2010 in gas co-generation development mode. Global electricity production was around 15,000 TWhrs/year in 2000 which would require 1,712 nuclear power stations operating continually at 1 GW to generate.

Electricity could be transmitted to mid Europe along high voltage DC cables at a cost of 1 UScent/kWh for every 1,000 km. Hydrogen could also be produced for export as transport fuel in Europe. District cooling and desalination schemes can also feature.

Energy payback time is 0.5 years !! about the same as wind-turbines

Obviously solar thermal schemes are not only limited to the Sahara region - US already has a solar thermal station since 1985 and now EU and US projects supported by the Global Environmental Facility are funding new technology projects in Spain, India, Egypt, Morocco, Mexico and Greece.

DLR German Aerospace Centre site is: www.dlr.de/tt/system then go to: Publication Downloads then: Solar Power Plants then select any of the various similar pdf docs - DLR (1999) Perspectives for Solar Power Stations is good intro and Trieb, Franz (2000) Solar Thermal Power Stations

Not to forget other renewables too:

eg. there is masses of cheap wind energy globally and it has been estimated that wave energy could provide 85% of the European Community's electricity demand (Wave Energy by Dr Tony Lewis, Graham & Trotman, 1985) with the bulk of supplies coming from Scotland.