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.