Sarkozy bucks Europe's anti-nuke trend

PARIS, June 29 (UPI) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy's move to buck Europe's anti-nuclear trend and double down on atomic power comes at a key political juncture, analysts say.

Sarkozy committed to a $1.5 billion investment in France's nuclear power industry Monday at a time when some other European countries have placed moratoriums on new plants and a major poll indicates French public opinion has turned against it.

The president told reporters at the Elysee Palace in Paris he intends to beef up nuclear safety research and development in a move meant to assure the public nuclear energy is safe and reliable in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi plant disaster in Japan.

"There is no alternative to nuclear power today," Sarkozy said. "Those who ask for a moratorium -- I find this curious. It would consist in keeping old plants and abstaining from researching new safer plants."

France derives 74 percent of its electricity from nuclear power plants, and their performance is a point of national pride. Sarkozy's announcement touched on that Monday when he asserted France was "considerably ahead" of other countries when it comes to nuclear technology and safety.

"Our power stations are more expensive because they are safer," he said.

In addition to the nuclear investment, Sarkozy said a further $1.9 billion would be earmarked for renewable energy. Both are part of his $50 billion "big loan" stimulus package launched in 2009 meant to encourage innovation in business and scientific research.

The money for the investments would come through government borrowing and repayments from bailed-out banks that sought taxpayer help during the 2008 financial crisis.

There was a clear political backdrop for the announcement, analysts said. Sarkozy announced his nuclear commitment just as attention was focused on the opposition French Socialist Party, which entered a key phase in choosing its next presidential candidate.

Political observers were expecting Socialist leader Martine Aubry to announce her decision to enter the party's primary elections, joining front-runner Francois Hollande in the race for the party nomination, Paris broadcaster France 24 reported.

Some opinion polls have put both Hollande and Aubry well ahead of Sarkozy for the first round of the presidential vote, just as a recent major poll indicated the French public -- after many years of strong support -- now favors a phaseout of nuclear energy in the wake of moves to do so in Germany, Switzerland and Italy following the Fukushima disaster.

A poll conducted this month for the Journal Du Dimanche by the French Institute for Public Opinion indicated French popular sentiment about nuclear energy has swung sharply negative in the wake of Fukushima.

More than six in 10 respondents said they favored a shutdown of nuclear power plants over a 25- to 30-year period, the poll indicated.

The Socialists are being pressured by their allies in the French Green Party, known as Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, to adopt a similar anti-nuclear plank, possibly setting up an election showdown on the issue.

"This will be the first time that the issue of nuclear power plays a significant role in a French presidential election," energy consultant Pierre-Louis Brenac told The Wall Street Journal. "It's a big change."

The swing of popular opinion on nuclear energy was also evident over the weekend when thousands of demonstrators formed a human chain around France's oldest nuclear power plant at Fessenheim in Alsace.

Fessenheim, run by French power group EDF, has been the focal point of a fierce debate over the safety of nuclear plants, British newspaper The Guardian reported.

In operation since 1977, the French, German and Swiss demonstrators claim it is vulnerable to flooding and earthquakes.

Sarkozy's government is carrying out risk audits of the country's nuclear plants, including their exposure to damage from earthquakes and other causes, and plans to release the results in September.

Until then, no decision on Fessenheim would be made, French Ecology Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet told the newspaper.