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Vatican Says Nothing Wrong With Nuclear Power
PLANET ARK REUTERS
2 August 2007, ROME–Nuclear power should be considered a useful energy source, a senior Catholic cardinal said on Wednesday, criticising countries like Italy which
have banned the technology on principal.
Weighing into a debate that sharply divides environmentalists, many of whom
see nuclear as unsustainable and unsafe, Cardinal Renato Martino said
nuclear power could be part of a balanced energy mix, alongside "forms of
clean energy".
"With maximum safety requirements in place for people and the environment,
and with a ban in place on the hostile use of nuclear technology, why should
the peaceful use of nuclear technology be barred?" Martino, the Pope's
justice minister, told Vatican Radio.
While Iran's nuclear programme has highlighted concerns about proliferation
of nuclear weapons, many countries in Europe have chosen not to have nuclear
power plants due to concerns about the environment and potential accidents.
Martino said such a policy might be counterproductive.
"Excluding nuclear energy because of a preconceived principle or for fears
of disasters could be a mistake and in come cases could have paradoxical
effects.
"One should think of Italy, which abandoned the production of nuclear energy
in 1987 but which imports the same type of energy from France," said
Martino, a former papal envoy to the United Nations.
Italians voted in a referendum to ditch nuclear power in the wake of the
1986 Chernobyl disaster. Supporters of nuclear power say it could be used as
a way of reducing reliance on fossil fuels which emit greenhouse gases
blamed for global warming.
Pope Benedict on Sunday marked the fiftieth anniversary of the International
Atomic Energy Agency by calling for "progressive and agreed nuclear
disarmament and to favour the peaceful and assured use of nuclear technology
for real development".
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