|
Date: 20/02/03
- NUCLEAR energy accounts for 35% of EU electricity output.
- Of the 15 member states, only eight currently rely on nuclear energy to provide electricity.
- France relies most on nuclear power - it provides 75% of its electricity needs. Next highest user is Belgium (58%), which, along with Germany, plans to phase out nuclear power over the next 30 years. The others are Sweden (47%), Finland (33%), Germany (30.5%), Spain (28%), UK (26%) and Netherlands (4.4%).
- Five of the countries joining the EU next year - Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary - have a combined total of 18 nuclear reactors. Bulgaria and Romania, due to join the bloc in 2007, also use nuclear energy. Italy closed its nuclear energy programme in the early 1990s.
- The EU produces about 50,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste per year, equivalent to 0.13 litres per person. 90% of radioactive waste is "low-level";
- Spent nuclear fuel takes at least 10,000 years to lose its radioactivity. The EU has so far disposed of about 2 million tonnes of low and medium-level radioactive waste.
- More than 400,000 people are employed in the EU nuclear industry.
- Decommissioning a nuclear reactor can cost between €200 million and €1bn;
- Renewables, including wind power, account for only 3% of energy output in the EU. In Denmark the figure is 20%.
- The European Commission wants renewables to account for 12% of EU energy production by 2020. It will spend €30 million in the next 12 months researching renewables as an alternative to nuclear.
- The number of Americans who now favour the use of nuclear energy is higher than at any time since 1983.
|
