Public opinion is an essential element in any nuclear programme. This was highlighted last month by World Nuclear Association chairperson Jean-Jacques Gautrot. “Public acceptance is essential to develop the environment in which nuclear development can take place,” he affirmed. “When the debate is rational, the case for nuclear is strong. We need, [for example], to explain what we are going to do with the spent fuel.”
Originally, nuclear power was viewed with great enthusiasm as providing cheap and secure power. But, following the Three Mile Island (in the US) and especially the Chernobyl (in Ukraine, then in the USSR) accidents, this changed. “Public opinion has drastically changed since the 1960s to now,” he pointed out. “The public is requesting more and more transparency and the nuclear industry needs to prepare to communicate with the public.”
French electricity utility EDF VP: new nuclear project development Valerie Levkov agreed. “Public awareness is more and more an issue with new media. Communication with local media and neighbours is important during the construction phase.” Recovery It is necessary to be honest and transparent.
However, the good news for nuclear is that global public opinion on nuclear energy is now back at the same level of 2005, noted Gautrot. In other words, it has recovered from the drop experienced immediately after the Fukushima accident in Japan four years ago.
“Nuclear is a competitive and reliable supply of baseload electricity,” he stated. “It is affordable and has predictable costs. It has low greenhouse gas emission across the entire fuel cycle. “But you must have a safety culture at all levels and must have acceptance by the public.”
Gautrot also pointed out that economically exploitable uranium resources have been slowly increasing since 2001. “We have uranium for at least this century,” he said.
“Building and operating a nuclear power plant [NPP] is challenging, requiring a commitment to excellence,” stressed Levkov. “It is a public opinion challenge, a skills development challenge. A safety challenge.”
“The world population needs electricity to power our high-tech economies, to give us all good standards of living; we need clean energy to protect the environment,” highlighted Gautrot. “More than one-billion people today are living without electricity. [As the global population rises], electricity growth will continue for decades.”
He praised South Africa’s contribution to the global nuclear sector. “South Africa plays a major role in the nuclear industry and story, [and has done so] for a very long time. “It started in 1948 . . . [The] Safari [research reactor] . . . provides essential radioisotopes, like Molybdenum-99. The Koeberg [NPP], [was] commissioned in 1985, 30 years ago, and will be operated for at least ten years more – maybe for more than ten years. We can congratulate the Eskom utility.” He expressed the opinion that nuclear power should form part of South Africa’s future energy supply. The construction of a large fleet of reactors was possible and had, for example, been done by electricity utility EDF in France.
Success“The key factors for success – first, after finance, it is project management, to deliver on time and [within] budget,” he affirmed. To ensure this, the safety authorities have to be involved. Although independent, their involvement is essential to make sure that the project meets all the required standards but remains on time and within budget. “This is a challenge for them.”
“The reference plant (the first NPP to be constructed in a programme) is very important,” highlighted Levkov. “It can help deliver a project on time and on cost and also with safety . . . Human resources and training [are] key issues. “We believe South Africa should develop its own training capability. The first step is to train the trainers. We have done that in the past with Koeberg.”
Gautrot and Levkov were both addressing the Nuclear Africa 2015 conference at Pelindaba, west of Pretoria.