German n-power CO2 savings equal road emissions - DAtF
Date: 30-Jan-03
Country: GERMANY
The Berlin-based Deutsche Atomforum (DAtF) gave the figure as part of a set of production data for 2002.
"Each kilowatt hour (kWh) of nuclear power avoids one kilogram of CO2 in the atmosphere which more polluting methods of generation would produce," said DAtF spokesman Christian Wilson.
"Using the latest primary energy mix and traffic statistics, we reckon German nuclear output helps avoid CO2 emissions the size of those produced by road traffic," he told Reuters.
Such emissions are seen by many scientists as a major contributor to global warming and resulting climate changes.
Virtually emissions-free nuclear power output of 164.8 billion kWh contributed nearly a third to Germany's production total last year, where CO2-emitting coal technology supplied half.
Germany is well on course to meeting its national target under the United Nations' Kyoto protocol on climate change of cutting CO2 emissions by 21 percent from 1990 levels by 2012, having already cut them by 19 percent.
But some nuclear operators still resent a 1999 deal between industry and government to phase out nuclear energy by the 2020s in a bid to eliminate perceived safety risks from ageing plants and the problem of how to store dangerous radioactive waste.
They say the national climate protection targets and the nuclear phase-out cannot be reconciled as the use of CO2-free renewable energy cannot grow fast enough.
"When nuclear energy goes, then fossil fuels will have to fill parts of the arising supply gap and in this case, CO2 emissions will inevitably rise," Wilson said.