Bratislava, Prague back nuclear to fight greenhouse gases

(BRATISLAVA) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and his Czech counterpart Mirek Topolanek on Monday called on the EU to back nuclear energy as a means of cutting carbon dioxide emissions and increasing energy independence.

"We won't be able to do without nuclear energy in the upcoming decades (...) we have to cut our dependence on Russia and there is also the EU energy-climate package," Topolanek said at the opening of a European nuclear forum in Bratislava.

The EU's climate-energy package and nuclear energy are interconnected, he said, adding that nuclear energy brought low green-house gas emissions without harming competitiveness.

"I'm glad that nuclear energy is no longer taboo in the EU. On the other hand, there are still more plants being closed down than opened", Topolanek said.

"Nuclear energy must find its place ... if EU wants to stand its ground in competition", Fico added, praising the "renaissance of nuclear energy".

The main Slovakian power producer Slovenske Elektrarne (SE) launched the construction of two new units at the Mochovce nuclear power plant in western Slovakia on Monday.

"This project is essential to Slovakia's self-sufficiency", Fico said at a the launching ceremony.

Nuclear power plants currently produce around a third of the EU's electricity and around 15 percent of its total energy but that proportion is dwindling as plants built in the 1960s and 1970s come to the end of their lives.