Renew On Line (UK) 32

Extracts from the July-August 2001 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

UN Commission on Sustainable Development and Nuclear Power

With the USA having just adopted a new pro-nuclear stance, unsurprisingly, the nuclear issue surfaced at the ninth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 9) when it met in New York in April.

The CSD was established to monitor the implementation of the outcome of the Rio Earth Summit (1992). Countries report to the Commission on the progress made, and the Commission advises the UN and its Member States on how to achieve sustainable development. You wouldn’t think a sustainable future included nuclear power, given the problems of safety, security, proliferation and cost. However, the CSD has apparently been tempted to see nuclear power as an inevitable part of the energy-mix of various countries. And in a draft paper produced in the run up to CSD 9, the CSD Energy Expert group evidently took a rather pro-nuclear stance.

In response WISE Amsterdam in collaboration with Helio International, Earthday Network and Nuclear Information and Resource Service therefore launched a petition, urging CSD not to consider nuclear as a sustainable source of energy, and instead work in the spirit of the Rio Declaration towards a sustainable future. They argued that ‘if an authoratitive institute such as the CSD continues to refuse to label nuclear as NOT sustainable, this would be a trump card in the hands of the nuclear lobby. The latter (has) recently (been) trying to present nuclear power as sustainable, and even as a tool to combat climate change’.

The petition expressed ‘deepest regret and extreme concern’ that nuclear energy has been included in the draft agenda of the ninth session of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, and warned that ‘this dangerous and unsustainable technology might, in effect, be given a fresh start by the actions of the CSD’.

It argued that any attempt to try to revalidate nuclear energy would be ‘against both the spirit of Agenda 21 and the mandate of the CSD. Moreover, it is contrary to the interests of developing countries which require sustainable, mostly decentralized, low-cost energy systems, adapted both to their needs and the availability of their capital, labor, and natural resources. Nuclear power will not fulfill those requirements’. It adds ‘Nuclear power is not a clean, safe or sustainable energy source. Worldwide, nuclear power has been plagued by high cost, erratic performance, endemic technical problems, the risk of catastrophic accidents, and environmental problems such as routine radiation releases, radioactive waste management and the high cost of decommissioning’.

Certainly it does seem that, as the petition notes, financially-pressed nuclear vendors are eyeing the developing world as a ‘last gasp’ market for their products, and are stepping up their lobbying efforts at U.N. conferences, including CSD.

However, over the past decade in most countries the overwhelming momentum of energy policy has moved towards phasing out, or not developing nuclear energy in the first place. Virtually all countries agreed in November at The Hague, during the discussions on the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, not to include nuclear energy in projects of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that will be established under the Kyoto Protocol.

At their last meeting, the governments of the G8 stated their commitment to "encourage and facilitate investment in the development and use of sustainable energy, underpinned by enabling domestic environments, (which) will assist in mitigating the problems of climate change and air pollution. To this end, the increased use of renewable energy sources in particular will improve the quality of life, especially in developing countries".

Non-G8 countries are taking similar positions. Turkey cancelled plans for a nuclear plant at Akkuyu, with its Prime Minister saying that, "the world is abandoning nuclear power." The countries of AOSIS (the Alliance of Small Island States) have "reaffirmed (their) position that nuclear energy should not be included in the CDM". (Apia, August 2000). And, a group of twelve Latin American nations made clear, in discussions on the Convention, that they "do not accept the use of nuclear power as an energy source alternative in project based activities." (FCCC/SB/2000/4, 1 August, 2000)

With this background, the petition urged CSD to ‘preserve the integrity of the CSD process by ensuring that any indications of support for non-sustainable energy technologies, particularly nuclear energy, are excluded from CSD 9 debates, exhibitions and other activities. The CSD should focus on promoting clean, secure and sustainable forms of energy for the welfare of present and future generations, as per the aim of Agenda 21’.

For more see www.antenna.nl/wise/csd

It seems however that the petitioners failed- although the final statement from CSD9 did say good things about renewables, it also supported nuclear power.

For the full CSD9 final text see http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd9/csd9_2001.htm