Nuke power may curb Greenhouse effect

Nuke power may curb Greenhouse effect

VIENNA (Reuter): Hans Blix, outgoing director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), urged the world yesterday to turn to nuclear power as a way of curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Blix, in a speech at the start of the annual general conference of the world's nuclear watchdog agency, said vigorous expansion of nuclear power for peaceful use was now evident in Southeast Asian countries while stagnation or slowdown was seen in most other parts of the world.

But he said the risk of global warming -- the so-called greenhouse effect -- had emerged as a new argument in the 1990s for using nuclear power rather than fossil fuels.

The burning of coal and oil creates greenhouse gases, the most important being carbon dioxide (CO2).

"If nuclear power was adopted more widely, it could have a significant restraining impact on CO2 emissions at costs which are not very different to those of fossil-fueled power," Blix told delegates from 106 member states at the IAEA's 40th anniversary gathering.

He said only hydropower could compete with nuclear reactors as a non-carbon dioxide producing source of electricity.

The meeting, which will last until Friday, elected Egyptian Mohammed el-Baradei as successor to Blix, a former Swedish government minister who has been IAEA director-general since 1981. El-Baradei was the sole candidate and will replace Blix in December.

About 30 Greenpeace environmental activists chained themselves to each other briefly in the street outside the conference in Vienna's Austria Center in protest against the IAEA's pro-nuclear power position.

"Nuclear death is no answer to climate disaster," said a banner unfurled by the protesters. It was later confiscated by police, who carried the activists away from the center.