Victory! Turkish nuclear plans powered down

Turkey — Just two days after the arrest of 37 activists from Greenpeace and Global Action Group protesting against nuclear energy in Turkey, there has been a victory. For months, the Energy Ministry of Turkey has been intent on selecting a supplier for its first nuclear energy plant. The plant would have been the first of a number the Turkish government says it wants to build. Instead, plans have been stopped dead in their tracks. It turns out energy companies just aren’t that interested in the risk of a new nuclear energy plant.

Nuclear power presents unacceptable risks to life on this planet: its small contribution to power is far outweighed by its inherent dangers.

And the envelope please…

Yesterday, the government received envelopes from 6 companies supposedly interested in building the new plant. Only one envelope actually held a bid for a new nuclear plant – the other five contained a “thanks but no thanks” letter. Russian company Atomstroyexport was the only one willing to roll the dice on nuclear energy in Turkey. But, Turkish rules say that without competition for the bid the government is unable to move ahead and issue the tender for a new nuclear plant.

Turkey might have been considering nuclear energy as a quick and cheap fix to its energy needs but nuclear energy is anything but quick or cheap. In addition to being extremely dangerous and dirty, nuclear energy is an economic disaster. Because of increasing costs and construction time, companies just don’t want to invest.

The time has come for an Energy [R]evolution. Let’s not fall back on power from the past. We’ve come up with a plan to move from a world powered by nuclear and fossil fuels to one running on renewable energy.