Environment, Europe, Headlines

ENVIRONMENT-EU: Submarine Visit Fuels Debate on ‘Clean’ Nuclear Energy

Tito Drago

MADRID, Jul 8 2004 (IPS) - The British nuclear submarine Tireless’s planned visit Friday to Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Spain, has highlighted the different positions taken by the two countries with respect to nuclear energy.

While Madrid wants to limit its use and eliminate it in the medium term, London is promoting nuclear power as a weapon against climate change.

Spanish Environment Minister Cristina Carbona admitted that nuclear energy is cheaper and does not emit gases that contribute to global warming. But ”until there is a scientific answer to the question of radioactive waste, it is an option we must reject,” she told IPS.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on the other hand, acknowledged Tuesday in parliament that the United States is applying pressure to install a new generation of nuclear power stations in Britain, safer and less costly than the 19 already functioning in the country.

Blair told the British lawmakers that nuclear power cannot be removed from the agenda ”if you are serious about the issue of climate change”, because unlike the energy produced by the burning of fossil fuels, coal and wood, nuclear energy does not aggravate global warming.

A similar view is held by controversial British environmentalist James Lovelock, who believes that ”nuclear power is the only green solution” and global warming poses a greater threat than international terrorism.

The head of Greenpeace Spain, Juan López Urralde, told IPS that Lovelock’s fears over global warming – ”which is undeniably a problem” – are understandable, but that it should be tackled with other measures, not by adding a new problem.

”We mustn’t forget that radioactive waste lasts at least 3,000 years,” and that the storage sites can be expected to leak radioactive contamination, he added.

Further, nuclear power is directly linked to weapons of mass destruction, and is more expensive to produce than traditional sources of energy, said López Urralde.

The focus should be put on developing renewable energy, like solar and wind power, said the activist.

Although Madrid does not plan to immediately rule out traditional sources of energy, Carbona is advocating diversification, with a view to developing green-friendly alternative sources.

As a first step, installed capacity of wind power will be increased from 9,000 to 20,000 megawatts, as part of a plan put in place by the government of the right-wing Popular Party, which handed over power on Apr. 17 to the socialist administration of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

A total of 153 nuclear reactors are currently operating in the EU, including 59 in France and nine in Spain. With a combined installed capacity of 133,607 megawatts, the power plants generate 38 percent of the electricity consumed in the bloc’s 25 member countries.

The controversy over nuclear energy was reawakened by the plan for a ”routine visit” to Gibraltar, a British enclave located in southwestern Spain, by the Tireless on Friday, Jul. 9.

London’s announcement drew an outcry in Spain, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Bernardino León called in British Ambassador Stephen Wright Thursday to say the Spanish government was ”deeply upset” over the submarine’s visit, which he said would ”mark a negative point in bilateral relations.”

After receiving a negative response to the request to cancel the visit, León asked Wright to explain to London the need to make the stopover as brief as possible, and to make sure it was carried out with every ”technical guarantee of safety.”

The Tireless has already spent time in the port of Gibraltar: an entire year – from May 19, 2000 to May 7, 2001 – after it was stranded for emergency repairs to its leaking cooling system despite protests from Madrid, Spain’s opposition parties, trade unions and environmentalists, who also claim sovereignty over the Rock of Gibraltar, which has been in British hands for 300 years.

According to Greenpeace, the Tireless is ”at least” the ninth nuclear submarine to call in to the port of Gibraltar since the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq began in March 2003.

The global environmental watchdog says all of the submarines were nuclear-powered and fitted to carry nuclear weapons.

Greenpeace activists photographed two U.S. submarines in the waters off Gibraltar in February 2003 during the preparations for the war on Iraq.

Shortly after, in April 2003, they sighted the British submarine HMS Turbulent, which is similar to the Tireless; in June 2003, the U.S. submarine USS Hampton; in October 2003 the Turbulent once again; in May 2004 Britain’s Trenchant and Sovereign; and this month the USS Albany.

Nor does Greenpeace rule out the possibility of the presence of other nuclear submarines in the Strait of Gibraltar, which has seen intense maritime traffic lately.

The organisation warns of the serious danger of an accident in the Mediterranean Sea, which is continually criss-crossed by nuclear submarines.

Greenpeace is calling for a nuclear free Mediterranean Sea, arguing that the presence of nuclear submarines in the sea or the ports subjects the population and environment to serious, unnecessary risks.