América Latina

Nuclear energy under debate

José Elosegui

14/04/2011

Opinión

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The earthquake and resulting tsunami on March 11 in eastern Japan, along with the consequent nuclear crisis caused by the explosions at the Fukushima I reactors in the city of Okuma, have called into question the worldwide use of atomic energy as an alternative to fossil fuels.

This flies in the face of the corporate nuclear lobby on an international scale. The debate about the safety of nuclear power is here to stay and the political repercussions are endless.

Latin America, with its six nuclear power plants in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico —at the global level, there are 442 in 30 countries—offers a good example of what is happening in various regions around the world.

In Argentina, nuclear plants generate 6.2% of the country’s power supply. There, the Atucha I plant in the city of Lima in the province of Buenos Aires has been in operation since 1974. A second power plant, Embalse, has operated since 1983 in the town Embalse Río Tercero, in the country’s central province of Cordoba.

Construction on Atucha II, which was suspended for more than 20 years, resumed in mid-2007. It will be operational this year. Additionally, in December 2010, the construction of a fourth nuclear power plant in the country, Atucha III, was announced. Ruben Navarro, supervisor of reactors at the Argentinian government’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority, said the Atucha I and Embalse plants have “fundamental differences” compared to Japan’s, both in technology and location, according to reports from several Argentine media sources. The current situation in the Asian country should not lead to extraordinary measures in his country’s power plants, the expert says.

Betting on nuclear energy

In Brazil, Congressional president José Sarney of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party said that following the Fukushima I incident in Japan, his country needs to review its nuclear program and better analyze the development of this energy resource. The Angra I (1985) and Angra II (2001) plants in Brazil operate in the municipality of Angra dos Reis, in the eastern state of Rio de Janeiro. Together they provide 3.1% of total electricity in the country. Construction on Angra III began last year and the government plans to build three more power plants.

On March 18, Greenpeace called on President Dilma Rousseff’s government to suspend its nuclear program. The organization expressed concern about the lives and physical integrity of residents in Angra dos Reis and around Rio de Janeiro, and considers nuclear energy to be a serious environmental, social and economic threat.

The group demanded the use of renewable energy resources instead. Media reports noted that the suspension of nuclear energy usage was not in the government’s plans.

In Mexico, the Laguna Verde nuclear plant is located in the town of Punta Limón, in the southeastern state of Veracruz. Laguna Verde has two reactors that began operating in 1989 and 1995, and supply 4% of the country’s total electricity.

Environmental organizations harshly criticized the power plant. The Antinuclear Group of Veracruzana Mothers, for example, alleged that Laguna Verde has the same features as Fukushima I and its cooling system is based on the same system as the Japanese plant.

Lobbying in Action

In Chile, the Nuclear Security Act permits the regulated use of atomic energy. There are two experimental or research nuclear reactors in the country, both of which are in the hands of the government’s Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission.

In the past six months, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera’s administration has signed agreements with the French and US governments for nuclear energy cooperation. In fact, this was one of the most important agenda items for US President Barack Obama during his visit to Chile on March 21.

Several Chilean social organizations are concerned about the issue and have spoken out often in recent months against the use of nuclear energy in the country, citing it as an environmental and social threat. They also criticize a wasteful domestic energy model, based on imported fossil fuels and hydroelectric power, for not taking into account socio-environmental sustainability and for being determined by large multinational corporations.

Eduardo Giesen of the Colectivo VientoSur de Chile told Latinamerica Press that the ultimate aim of the nuclear energy agreements signed with France and the United States is to build nuclear plants in the country. These pacts “are designed to develop this energy resource within the energy grid. They have no other purpose and we openly denounce it.”

Although government sources say that there is no nuclear program and that there are no plans to institute any such power plant, Giesen warned of the strong nuclear lobby that exists in Chile, run by operatives associated with business groups mainly in the United States, France and Russia.

Over in Uruguay it is illegal to generate nuclear power, but political actors from different parties are promoting its use, which could mean that this statute may be repealed. When contacted by Latinamerica Press, activist Leonard Mattioli of the environmental group Social Environmentalist Network-Friends of the Earth Uruguay, said the “disaster at Fukushima I dismantled the three great lies put forth by those who support the use of nuclear energy: that is clean, safe and cheap,” especially if one considers that the Asian country is the “epitome of high technology and efficiency.”

The environmentalist said that the lack of security around nuclear power is clear; he also drew attention to the threat of radioactivity and expressed concern over the risks to lives and food production that the nuclear industry poses.

Other countries in the region, including Peru and Venezuela, have no current plans to develop nuclear energy. On March 17, Peruvian President Alan Garcia suggested designating the country as free from nuclear energy. He based this on the fact that Peru — beyond being an earthquake-prone country — has enough hydroelectric, gas, and oil resources to avoid using nuclear energy for at least the next 100 years.

Meanwhile, on March 15 Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez ordered to freeze the country’s preliminary plans for nuclear energy due to the crisis in Japan. For Chavez, “there is no doubt that this situation will strongly alter plans for the development of nuclear power in the world.” — Latinamerica Press.

https://www.alainet.org/en/active/45863