Presentation
Nuclear Public Forum
From 19-21 October 2009 the Heinrich Boell Foundation together with Palang Thai and the Nuclear Monitoring Network organized a Nuclear Public Forum in Bangkok and Nakorn Sri Thammarat in order to publicly discuss the issue of nuclear energy and the Thai nuclear power plant project (currently under review) in a balanced and informed way.
Therefore the hbf Office Chiang Mai invited Mr. Mycle Schneider (a renowned International Consultant on Energy and Nuclear Policy and Right Livelihood Award Laureate) from France, to share his rich expertise and experience with the Thai audience and media representatives. In the seminar ”Review of Nuclear Energy: International Lessons and Transparency in Decision-making/State Policies” (co-organized with the Senate’s Anti-Corruption and Transparency Promotion Committee and the Environmental Journalist Association) Mr. Schneider gave a lecture on the status and trends of the international nuclear industry and key problems of nuclear energy. In this presentation, titled “The World Nuclear Industry in 2009: Renaissance or Decline?” Mr. Schneider pointed out the limited role nuclear power plays nowadays in the international energy sector. In 2007 nuclear’s share of global electricity generation dropped another percentage point to only 14%, and a further decline is highly likely. Few new reactors are built and current construction projects often suffer from excessive time and cost overruns (as for example Olkiluoto-3 in Finland). Concerning the potential of nuclear energy in fighting global warming Mr. Schneider mentioned that $1 spent on nuclear will save about 3–20 times less carbon and about 20–40 times slower (per year) than efficiency and micro-power. Thus he concluded that energy future lies in affordable, distributed, super-efficient technologies, smart grids and sustainable urbanism. Nuclear energy will likely rather hinder than favour the urgent implementation of reliable, sustainable energy policies. ›› download full presentation (pdf, 2.3 MB)