Two weeks after the catastrophic earthquake in Japan, Greenpeace gave a briefing in which it offered the EU countries to minimize the operations of nuclear energy facilities across the European continent and increase to 30 percent the commitments made earlier to reduce emissions to atmosphere. The Greens also made their recommendations to the EU leaders. Commenting on the events, The Green movement participant on energy Louise Hutchins said: "Governments, which come face to face with the rapidly rising energy prices and the risk of release of radioactive contaminants into the environment, will be quite right if they want to revise and amend their plans for future energy projects". Hutchins also criticized the initiative for the voluntary conduct of stress tests on European nuclear reactors as a preventive measure, comparing them with a fig leaf: "Since when have the stress tests on nuclear power facilities become voluntary?"
The document of Greenpeace says that nuclear energy provides 16 percent of global electricity production and less than 6 percent of all energy consumed. The nuclear electricity production capacity has decreased by 7.6 gigawatts in the EU over the past ten years, while more than 100 g/W was obtained at the expense of renewable energy sources.
Further, in their appeal to the EU leaders, the Greens continue to argue in favor of closing the European nuclear power plants. With reference to the German Aerospace Center, which indicates that 48 European reactors with total capacity of 34.7 g/W, built by 1980, can be closed by 2015, Greenpeace declares that the energy deficit can be filled in at the expense of the increasing volume of renewable energy sources.
Indeed, today in the EU countries, the growth of renewable energy production outstrips not only nuclear energy, but all other sources of energy production. This is another indicator of growth, according to EIA:
In 2010 the EU obtained a record output of electricity from renewable sources, 22.6 g/W (in 2009 it produced 17.3 g/W). EU governments expect that by 2020 the share of renewables will be 20.7 percent of the total final energy consumption, or approximately 34.3 percent of all electricity consumption of the EU.
Meanwhile, in the EU there is no consensus regarding the timing of nuclear power plants, and unlikely will be. The reaction of European countries to the events in Japan reflected the degree of their dependence on the share of nuclear energy in total energy balance and, to some extent, on the level of development of the renewable energy industry. In France, which is the world's second largest country after the United States to produce nuclear energy, the government categorically refused to conduct a national referendum about the imminent closure of all nuclear power plants in the country. It is clear: France is the most dependent on nuclear energy, a country where 80 percent of electricity production accounted for by nuclear power plants.
Nevertheless, given the possible backlash of public opinion, the government has promised to organize a broad public debate, and President Sarkozy has threatened to immediately close down all nuclear power plants, where during the stress test will be found any flaws. Compared with France, in Germany the reaction was much sharper: hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in large cities, speaking for the early closure of all nuclear power plants (which produce about 22 percent of total electricity production) in the country. As a result, government ordered to stop the operation of the seven oldest nuclear reactors, and to carefully check other ten reactors.
The whole world is watching whether it will be possible to prevent the crisis situation at the Fukushima-1 from turning into a catastrophe, but even now, many Europeans and politicians and ordinary citizens perceive these events as a turning point in the issue of further use of nuclear power in Europe.
A serious blow has been inflicted to nuclear power. European countries will begin to curtail the operations of their nuclear power plants, at least, outdated plants (European nuclear power plants produce 15-16 percent of the total electricity production). This will lead to a shortage of electricity. The transition to alternative sources requires a significant investment and therefore will take time. Oil and especially coal CO2 emissions harm the environment. Only the natural gas remains, which for many reasons is a real alternative to the possible reduction of energy consumption in European countries. In this regard, the role of Caspian gas will increase many times for the European market.