We are on the brink of the 鈥渢hird industrial revolution鈥�, according to Jos茅 Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission 鈥� who believes it means nations may have to embrace nuclear power.
Europe鈥檚 鈥渓ow-carbon age鈥� is the revolution Barroso spoke of last week at an energy conference in Madrid, Spain. 鈥淢ember states cannot avoid the question of nuclear energy,鈥� he said, following the commission鈥檚 announcement last month of a new research initiative for nuclear energy. The European Union should contribute to research, Barroso said.
However, not all of Europe shares his view. At a separate nuclear energy conference in Vienna last week, environment ministers from Austria, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Norway and Italy declared that global growth in nuclear power would severely increase the risks of nuclear proliferation. 鈥淪ome European countries are almost religiously opposed to nuclear power,鈥� says Hans-Holger Rogner of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
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