FINLAND DOES NOT NEED MORE NUCLEAR ENERGY - EU

Newsroom Finland ^ | March 7, 2002

[DeaconBenjamin]

HELSINKI, March 7 (Reuters) - The European Union's top environment official said on Thursday Finland did not need another nuclear power station, instead urging the resource-poor country to focus on alternative energy sources.

Finland is the only country in Western Europe currently considering building a new plant as others are opting for alternative energy sources to meet rising demand from consumers and industry.

"You don't need to invest in the massive use of nuclear power," EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom told a news conference in Helsinki. "We want to see an increased use of renewable energy."

The government has said the best way to satisfy increasing energy demand while ensuring Finland meets its greenhouse gas emissions obligations under the U.N. Kyoto protocol was to build a fifth nuclear reactor, its first in more than two decades.

But Wallstrom said Finland could meet the emission targets without building more nuclear power by relying more on natural gas and renewable energy.

Backers say boosting nuclear capacity was the only way to meet those goals and keep Finland from becoming dependent on imported electricity. The government proposal is now with parliament, which is expected to vote on it in coming months.

The European Union has left it up to individual member states to decide on their nuclear power policy.

[DeaconBenjamin]

So, was the EU statement advisory or mandatory? If the latter, Finland has gone from being a Czarist province to being a Eurocratic province, ruled from Brussels.

[rwb]

. Finland is the only country in Western Europe

Finland is not in Western Europe.

[DeaconBenjamin]

Take it up with Reuters.

[ExpandNATO]

Geographically perhaps not. But then Western Europe was often used as shorthand for not part of the former Communist bloc. And many of my acquaintances who actually live in the former Communist bloc classify Finland as Western.

[American in Israel]

The Eee Uuu says Britton will not be allowed to sell in pounds and ounces, the Eee Uuu says that Finland, resource poor must do without nuclear reactors even though they are little danger as a nuclear nation while the Arabs who sit on gobs of oil need reactors (all the better to blow your arse up grandma). The Eee Uuu is the new Fascist Empire and now that it is in power, freedom is just a mandate farther away every day.

Will they all be required to wear the same uni-sex clothes and drive the same color car in the future? Enquiring minds want to know...

[Willie Green]

Link to article update: Finland Set to Boost Atomic Power Against EU Trend

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Add relevant data to this thread:

 Electricity Production by Source (1999) 

Country	Production (billion kWh)	Fossil Fuel %	Hydroelectric %	Nuclear %	Other %
Austria	59.283	29.53	67.65	0	2.82
Belgium	79.829	40.01	0.42	58.33	1.24
Denmark	37.885	88.40	0.07	0	11.53
Finland	75.792	41.88	16.77	28.82	12.53
France	497.260	9.69	14.39	75.43	0.49
Germany	531.377	63.29	3.59	30.3	2.82
Greece	46.432	89.60	9.72	0	0.68
Ireland	19.542	94.42	4.23	0	1.35
Italy	247.679	79.09	18.08	0	2.83
Luxembourg	0.648	36.88	53.09	0	10.03
Netherlands	85.294	90.25	0.11	4.27	5.37
Portugal	41.696	79.97	17.25	0	2.78
Spain	197.694	57.71	12.10	28.28	1.91
Sweden	146.633	5.53	47.24	45.42	1.81
United Kingdom	342.771	69.38	1.55	26.28	2.39
Total European Union	2409.815	50.86	12.45	34.06	2.57
United States	3678.000	69.64	8.31	19.8	2.25