Director general Eli Ronen: Israel's power capacity must be doubled to 25MW by 2025.
Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Eli Ronen told Army Radio last Friday that nuclear power stations would probably not be built in Israel in the coming decade.
Ronen said, "The issue of nuclear power is taboo in Israel. It should be taken into account that the bulk of power in some European countries, such as France, is produced by nuclear power."
Ronen said activity was focusing on preserving land, mostly in the Negev, for the construction of power stations in the future. He believes that public sentiment will not permit the building of nuclear power plants.
Ronen also said that projected demand for electricity required the doubling of Israel's power capacity to 25 megawatts by 2025. He believes that it is necessary to enter a new era of conserving infrastructure resources and energy by lowering peak demand. He said only 40% of Israel's current electricity capacity was currently exploited, and the level should be raised to 55%.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on December 30, 2003