Analysis: Russian attacks spur debate about nuclear power as climate fix

Rafako SA w upadlosci

05/03/2022 01:07

(Adds Westinghouse comment)
    By Timothy Gardner
    WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - Russia’s takeover of
Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine should spur
companies and policymakers to be more careful in plans to build
reactors to fight climate change, nuclear safety experts said on
Friday.
    Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
in Ukraine on Friday after heavy fighting sparked a huge blaze
in a training building at the site. The fire was extinguished
and officials said the facility was safe.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2V700O
    But the seizure, a week after Russian troops took over
Ukraine's defunct but still radioactive Chernobyl plant,
triggered global alarm about vulnerabilities of nuclear energy
to wartime attacks that could unleash deadly radiation. 
    "You have to take more seriously the need to ensure
protection in nuclear plants, not only for natural disasters,
but also for manmade ones,” said Edwin Lyman, the director of
nuclear power safety at the Union for Concerned scientists.
    Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council
on Friday that the attack on Zaporizhzhia was "incredibly
reckless and dangerous. And it threatened the safety of
civilians across Russia, Ukraine and Europe."  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2V71D8
    The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine called the Russian assault on
the plant a "war crime".  
    Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy
Education Center, a nonprofit group, said the attack struck a
blow to the nuclear power industry as a whole: 
    "The nuclear reactor in Ukraine didn't take a hit last night
as big as nuclear power will if officials factor in the military
vulnerability of these machines," he said.
    
    RACE TO NUCLEAR
    Plans to develop nuclear power, which generates electricity
while emitting virtually no greenhouse gases, have accelerated
in recent years as governments pledge to fight global warming. 
    There are now 58 reactors under construction and 325
proposed around the globe, according to the World Nuclear
Association. Many proposed plants are in Eastern Europe.
    The White House said in November that U.S. company NuScale
Power LLC had inked plans with Romania to build a small modular
reactor (SMR) plant, adding the agreement positioned "U.S.
technology to lead in the global race for SMR deployment."
    Last month NuScale, majority owned by construction and
engineering company Fluor Corp  FLR.N , signed an agreement with
Polish company KGHM Polska to build another small modular
reactor plant in Poland by 2029 as part of an effort to reduce
dependence on coal, which emits large amounts of carbon dioxide
and lung-damaging soot when burned.
    NuScale also signed an agreement in December with Kazakhstan
Nuclear Power Plants LLP (KNPP) to explore the deployment of the
power plants in that country. 
    Diane Hughes, a NuScale spokesperson, said the Zaporizhzhia
"incident once again highlights the fact that nuclear energy
plants have robust, resilient and redundant safety features" and
that its technology is even safer.  
    And in January, Westinghouse Electric Co signed cooperation
agreements with 10 Polish companies for the possible
construction of six AP1000 conventional nuclear reactors. It
also signed a memo with Rafako SA  RFK.WA  on the possibility of
developing nuclear plants in Ukraine, Slovenia and the Czech
Republic.
    Cathy Mann, a Westinghouse spokesperson, said "nuclear
energy is a safe, carbon-free source in Ukraine and around the
world."
    Third Way, a Washington-based think tank that supports
nuclear power, said the severity of climate change means the
world must rapidly increase nuclear energy in the next few
decades despite the risks.
    "No energy source is entirely without risk," said Josh
Freed, the group's senior vice president for climate and energy.
"If (Russia President Vladimir) Putin wants to kill countless
people by blowing up a dam or attacking a nuclear plant, he
could do it. But the fact is ... nuclear plants are incredibly
safe," Freed said.
    Others disagree.
    Lyman from UCS dismissed as "glib talk" contentions that new
nuclear reactors will be "so safe and they can be deployed,
essentially anywhere in the world with minimal protection."
    The Nuclear Energy Institute, the U.S. industry group, told
Reuters it believes nuclear reactors are safe and Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine only reinforces the need for Europe to
expand its nuclear energy capacity. 
    Russia is currently a major supplier of natural gas to
Europe’s power plants.
    "We expect that the tragic events of the past weeks will
only increase interest in working with the United States on
next-generation nuclear energy deployment," said John Kotek, 
senior vice president of policy development and public affairs
at NEI.

 (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Additional reporting by Valerie
Volcovici; Editing by David Gregorio and William Mallard)
 ((timothy.gardner@thomsonreuters.com; +1 202 380-8348 (Twitter
@timogard); Reuters Messaging:
timothy.gardner.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))