"For the next 20-30 years, Israel will not have a nuclear power plant," said Ministry of Environmental Protection Noise Abatement and Radiation Safety Dept. head Dr. Stelian Ghelberg at a conference held by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) on the topic of nuclear energy.
Dr. Ghelberg is a member of the steering committee to examine the feasibility of building a nuclear power plant in Israel. He said, "All of the alternatives for producing electricity are terrible, but we must pick one of them. What is preferable, coal-based or nuclear-based energy? There is no doubt that nuclear energy has not received the best publicity, but sometimes our gut feeling is not connected to reality. Israel's energy must be produced by as many types of alternative energies as possible, even 80-90%, but we still need an energy source that does not depend on the wind or the sun - in other words that operates 8,000 hours a year. A nuclear power plant is not a nuclear bomb. People think that a nuclear power plant can explode, and the truth is far from this. Safe nuclear reactors exist everywhere."
Ghelberg said, "The Israeli government decided that it needs to build a nuclear reactor as a source of electricity for the country. There is a committee that does pre-planning and checks if it is worthwhile to build such a power plant. Israel currently has a hard time buying radioactive materials, but let's assume that someone would sell it to us. The committee has not yet decided anything. We are still trying to gather information and figure out what our options are. At any rate, there will not be an electricity producing nuclear power plant in Israel in the next 20-30 years."
The Ministry of National Infrastructures Petroleum Council has the authority to decide who receives an oil and gas exploration license. According to the Oil Law (5712-1952), public representatives appointed by the Infrastructure Minister sit on the council. Following the recent natural gas discoveries, the Ministries of Finance and Environmental Protection asked that members of their own choosing be appointed to the council. This attempt to have council members appointed was done through the Economics Arrangements Law, but got stuck in the Knesset following an objection filed by MK Dov Khenin (Hadash). Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau opposes appointing a representative from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and views it as an attempt to interfere in issues that are meant to be decided by the professionals in his office.
At the SPNI energy and environment meeting, MK Khenin asked Minister of Infrastructures representative Yossi Wirtzburger why he is opposed to the appointment of a Ministry of Environmental Protection representative to the council.
"I did not say that the office opposes the appointment of a Ministry of Environmental Protection representative," said Wirtzburger, who heads the Ministry of Infrastructures' natural resources licensing administration. The Ministry of National Infrastructures said that it initiated the recent addition of a Ministry of Environmental Protection official to the Petroleum Council.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 8, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011