France is quite keen on nuclear energy being included as a mitigation measure under the Kyoto Protocol to tackle climate change though the European Union (EU) is not in favour of it, according to a French diplomat. A formal pitch is yet to be made in this direction.This assumes significance in the light of the fact that France has initialled an agreement with India on nuclear civil cooperation, which can be formalised only after it signs a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) changes its rules. Along with the U.S., France promotes nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels, which lead to global warming with disastrous effects. This perception could lead to a nuclear civil cooperation with India in a specific programme, the diplomat said. Cooperation could extend to transfer of technology in nuclear areas as there is already a limited cooperation, research and development and development of nuclear plants.
Working group
France is also developing a bilateral working group on environment and sustainable development with India. Though a strategic dialogue was launched between France and India 10 years ago, it was re-launched after President Sarkozy's visit in January.The working group tackles military and defence, civil and nuclear issues, anti-terrorism and regional stability apart from other issues. A day after a major EU summit on September 29 this year, a bilateral summit is slated between India and France, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.According to a government official, the modalities of this bilateral working group will be settled before this summit. France wishes to make certain commitments to India and also involve the EU in this. A formal announcement on the working group is expected to be made at this summit. By then the working group will thrash out issues on global warming, promotion of cooperation in university research, carbon emissions and how to help India to reduce emissions, apart from technology transfer.Besides this working group, French companies are keen on getting involved in India in areas of water and sanitation and nuclear energy.
Clean energy
The French government believes that nuclear energy is clean and it is keen on India overcoming the difficulties to sign the nuclear deal with the United States. France has already been helping India with the negotiations in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the two countries have close diplomatic ties in that direction.
Technology transfer
Technology transfer is an area of focus and the Agence France de Development (AFD) will also be part of the working group that is being evolved. The working group will comprise high-ranking ministers, civil servants, experts, university professors and NGOs. Two issues under consideration are likely to be the purchase of intellectual property rights and transferring them to India and also sectoral benchmark energy efficiency norms as Japan has suggested for polluting industries.With 78 per cent of France's power coming from nuclear energy, it believes that this is an indispensable way of dealing with climate change. It May not be the solution but it is a vital response, government sources said. France also believes that in the years to come there will be a significant change in the outlook of the European countries on nuclear energy and it could be a positive change. France will also focus on climate change and renewables when it takes over the EU presidency later this year. Despite its preference for nuclear energy, a fact which most of the French accept without questioning, the country wants to focus on making Europe an exemplary case in adhering to climate change measures and protocols. Climate change issues were also part of Mr. Sarkozy's election manifesto, and, according to a French government official, it is deeply ingrained in the people's consciousness.Keeping this in mind, the newly launched Velib system is a simple way of hiring bicycles from several fixed points in Paris. Anyone with a credit card can go up to a booth and hire a bicycle and drop it off at any one of the 1,451 stands spread all over the city. Since it was launched a year ago, there have been two million hires. There are 20,000 bicycles in total and the government is planning to reproduce the system in other parts of France.The Grenelle Environment Forum, held in October 2007, already set a minimum target of 20 per cent of national electricity consumption from renewable energy. However, France is still very dependent on hydrocarbon imports though it has major hydroelectric resources, with 12 per cent coming from that source. Already energy from renewable sources covers 12 per cent of France's energy consumption.Even with China, France has a working group which was set up five years ago. But the standards for the two countries and issues will be different. France's support for nuclear energy has not exactly endeared itself to other EU member countries and it has often been called on to explain its position.
Objections
Various networks of NGOs and individual groups have questioned the preference for nuclear energy and raised several objections to the disposal of waste and the high risks involved. One activist commented that the French can eat well without genetically modified organisms, which are banned in the country but it cannot do without nuclear energy.The Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA), a research body on nuclear issues, also believes that the problem of climate change cannot be addressed without the use of nuclear energy. The French government has, however, set up the country's first solar energy institute in partnership with the CEA. Since 2006 the country has a new law on nuclear waste management.
The Hindu, 28 May 2008
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